Of Scissors & Scooby Doo
by letsdosomeliving
Summary: I always believed Jade and I would get married someday. It was just... the only thing that seemed certain in my life.
1. One

_A/N: This was a completely random idea and I'm aware that this concept probably has been done already - way better than I could ever do - but I still decided to post it and see where it goes. This chapter isn't really that eventful but maybe it will make you curious for more. Tori got into Hollywood Arts the same way as she did on the show. Other than that... I don't think I need to say anything else other than maybe **I don't own anything.**_

* * *

"_Ow! Stop!"_

"_Make us!"_

_A gasp rushed out of her mouth, followed by a loud sob as tears finally rolled down her cheeks. The blonde boy flicked his fingers against her ear again, making the little girl flinch in pain, while the boy on her right side, red, curly hair on top of his head and freckles all over his face, gave a sharp tug to her long brown hair. "You're such a weenie!"_

"_I'm not! Just leave me alone!" The boys merely cackled and when Tori tried to jump up and run away, the blonde boy harshly pushed her and almost made her tumble backwards over the bench she had been sitting on. She whimpered, sat back down and squeezed her eyes shut. Why wasn't anyone helping her? A teacher surely must have heard her crying, right? But no one came and Tori found herself wailing like a baby, which only seemed to spur the two boys further on. But suddenly, her hair was released and a loud thud, coupled with an "Umpf!" from one of the boys reached her ears. When she cracked her eyes open – first her left, then her right – she saw a girl with long brown hair and the prettiest eyes turn toward the blonde boy, then quickly pushing him to the ground._

"_Stop teasing her! She's crying!"_

_With trembling lips, Tori curiously looked from the redheaded boy still lying on the ground to the blonde one, who stood up and brushed down his blue pants. "Those are new! My mom is gonna be so mad at me!" Tori flinched at the glare he sent the other girl but she seemed unfazed by it. _

"_I don't care. Just go and leave her alone or I'm calling my daddy. He's a lawyer and can put you in jail."_

_The boy's eyes widened comically and even Tori couldn't stop herself from silently gasping. Her daddy could _do_ that? The redheaded boy quickly scrambled to his feet and stumbled over to his friend, urgently beginning to tug at his arm. "Let's go. I don't wanna go to jail!" The blonde's face morphed into a deep frown but he didn't say anything else, only let his friend drag him away. They silently watched them go before the girl turned to Tori._

"_Thank you," Tori hiccupped, her fingers lying in her lap tightly wounding around each other. Her little protector nodded her head in response, then crouched down to pick up Tori's lunch box, which the boys had previously thrown to the ground. "Here," she said and held the box out, "This is yours, isn't it?"_

_The still crying girl slowly took her lunch box out of the other girl's hand. "Yes, thank you." Her eyes fell to the image of Scooby Doo on the front of her yellow lunch box. Sniffling, Tori ran her hand over it, brushing away the almost non-existent dirt. Tori felt like she should do something, thank the girl again, but nothing came to her mind. What was she supposed to do now? She probably thought she was such a… a baby for not being able to stick up for herself. Her face went red at the thought and fresh tears threatened to well up when she felt the girl quietly sitting down next to her. _

"_Are you okay? Do you need an adult?"_

_Tori shook her head. She waited and waited, but nothing else came. The girl didn't start to tease her, she didn't laugh, she didn't… do anything. She just sat beside her, quietly, and occasionally swung her legs back and forth, back and forth. "Can your daddy really put people in jail?" Her voice was quiet and almost scared as she asked. Hesitantly, Tori looked up and saw the other girl nod. "Yes. But I don't think he can put children in jail. That was a lie."_

"_Oh." Tori nodded and looked back at her lunch box._

"_Why were they so mean to you?"_

_Tori shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I didn't do anything."_

_Biting her lip, Tori looked back up and looked into light blue eyes. "I'm Tori Vega. What is your name?"_

_The girl hesitated a second before she finally answered. "I'm Jade."_

**_-OS&SD-_**

I still remember that day like it was yesterday. After all, it was the day my life completely changed. Wait, that didn't sound right. I was only seven, my life didn't _completely change_. That's very dramatic. But I guess you could say… that that day, I found my soulmate. It was the day I met my best friend. The day I met the love of my life.

The day I met Jade West.

She was... my knight in shining armor, I guess. She was so strong and brave, everything that I was not. I was so fascinated. Those two boys didn't come near me again after that day. I guess a lot of it had to do with the fact that Jade had always been with me from then on, everywhere one of us went, the other came with. We became best friends. I learned about her strange fascination with scissors, she about my fondness for Scooby Doo and superheroes. We were so different from each other, even at such a young age. But that's what made our friendship special and what made us to what we always were: best friends.

She didn't have many friends aside from me but I don't think it bothered her that much. It was always Jade and Tori and she liked it that way. I did too. Sure, I had other friends. But no one could ever compare with Jade and there was more than one time where I found myself incredibly bored when I was with them. I was never bored with Jade. Jade _wasn't _boring. She was so different from the other girls at my school. She didn't like Barbie's but instead liked to cut their hair with her scissors. She hated the color pink. She wasn't afraid of _anything._ Not even spiders.

I admired her. She was so smart and… always knew what to say, even in the most ridiculous situations. No one really liked her that much and I just couldn't get my head around that. She didn't like to be around a lot of people, she didn't like that the kids in our class were always loud and intrusive, so what? Not everyone was the same. She was different and I liked that. She had always been pretty quiet, inside of her head a lot. The other kids didn't understand her.

And they made clear that they didn't.

They stayed away from her as much as they could. But that was okay. She had me. I never left her side. Until she moved away.

I was twelve when I watched Jade's world slowly crumble around her without being able to do a single thing. The days we spent in the park or just lounging around at my or her house without a care in the world were over and were replaced with long nights of listening to Jade crying. The divorce of her parents hit her hard.

So many nights I would hear a knock at my window. I would get up to open it and reveal Jade with tears streaming down her face as she begged me to let her stay the night. Of course I always said yes. We would lie next to each other, sometimes in complete silence, sometimes with me listening to Jade quietly telling me what they were fighting about this time. But it always ended the same. I'd wake up in the morning with the pale brunette curled into my side and my mother would open the door, looking at the girl with a faint, almost pitying smile before she'd make an extra big plate of waffles.

I thought it would be a relief to Jade that her parents would finally call it quits. Divorced parents were better than parents who fought night for night, right? It was for the best. But Jade didn't think so. She blamed herself, no matter how much I, her mother, _everyone_, insisted that it wasn't the case.

And then, my world got shattered too.

Not too long after Jade's mom and dad had filed for a divorce, her mother announced that she and Jade would move.

To San Francisco.

_San Francisco. _It was a five and a half hour drive. I cried for weeks after she moved. We tried to keep in contact via phone and letters. I still have the letters she sent me. Every single one of them I kept, after she just… stopped. Everything stopped. She didn't write anymore. She didn't call and didn't _answer_ my calls anymore. We fell apart. _I _fell apart. I still don't know what happened, why she so suddenly broke off every form of contact.

But now is my chance to find out. I'll try everything to make her my friend again.

No matter how long it may take.

_**-OS&SD-**_

"Dude, why are you rubbing my boyfriend?!"

Great. My first freaking day here and already did I manage to piss someone off. "I'm sorry, I was-"

But the moment my eyes fell on the girl standing in the doorway my entire vocabulary flew out of my brain and left a yawning void inside of my head. This couldn't be the same girl, could it? But when one shapely eyebrow lifted in question and I stared into the depths of blue and green, I knew. It _had_ to be her.

She looked different. Duh! Of course she looked different, she had gotten older. But still, she changed so much. Her hair was black now, an even darker shade than the one her mother had. I still remember how envious little Jade always had been of her mother's natural dark hair color and how unfair she had found it that she didn't inherit that from her. Blue streaks ran through the black mass of hair and she was… she was pierced? Yeah, her eyebrow was pierced. Man, she changed so much. But her eyes… her eyes were still the same.

"Relax." The boy I spilled coffee on moved away and toward Jade, kissing her cheek. But she didn't acknowledge him very much, instead kept her eyes locked on mine, a frown carved into her pale face. Did she recognize me too? Did she know who I am? My mind began to spin with questions, my mouth went dry and my heart wildly puckered in my chest as I stuttered out an apology. "I spilled coffee on him and I… I'm sorry, I tried to… get the stain out but… I'm sorry."

But she didn't utter a single word. My eyes shortly flicked to her boyfriend, who looked really confused when Jade slowly stepped up to me. I swallowed and looked at her frowning face as she scrutinized every part of me. I felt like I shrunk two whole sizes under Jade's judging and curious gaze but I couldn't bring myself to step away from her, let alone tear my eyes off of her. "What's your name?" she demanded sharply. I felt my heart sink at the realization that she didn't remember who I was but then, then I looked back into her eyes and I… I _knew_. She knew who I was. I could _see _that she knew. Nevertheless, I opened my mouth to answer her but whirled around as a door behind me flew open and banged against the wall.

"There's a huge _fire_ in the building!"

My eyes widened, exclamations of panic all around me. I made a move to run out of the door but a strong grip on my forearm hindered me to go anywhere. I looked down at the hand enclosing my arm, heart pounding – I wasn't quite sure if it was simply because of the thought of a fire or because of an entire different reason though – before I looked up into the calm face of Jade. She stared at me, emotionless. Then, the voice of the crazy teacher echoed through the room. "Kidding, kidding! Just wanted to get your blood pumpin', which I _did_, ha!"

The air in my lungs puffed out of my mouth in one long breath but it did close to nothing for my fast beating heart. Jade's hand let go of me, so did the pounding of my heart, and I watched her saunter over to her boyfriend before both of them took a seat. I stood there a couple of seconds longer – like a total idiot – before Andre called me over to sit down next to him. I smiled as the teacher – who I embarrassingly gave two dollars to earlier that day because I thought he was homeless. Ouch. – introduced me to the class and started explaining to me what 'Improv' was. "So then. Jade! Come on stage and choose a group!"

My heart started to hammer in my chest and I swallowed thickly as I watched her step onto the small stage. "Cat, Robbie, Beck…" Her eyes roamed over the room for a second until they stopped on me. I scratched my nails against the fabric of my jeans while her eyes seemed to drink me up. A breath puffed out of her nose and I can't even describe the kind of disappointment I felt as she looked away from me. "And Eli."

She could have picked me. Why didn't she pick me? Instead I sat glued in my seat, my shoulders stiff and eyes following the blonde boy – Eli – walk on stage.

It was going to be a long day.

_**-OS&SD-**_

It turned out to be one hell of a task to get Jade alone. At lunch I sat with her and her friends – turned out that Andre was friends with her too – but she didn't acknowledge me much; only once she grumbled quietly for me to pass her the salt. She seemed to never be alone. When she wasn't with her boyfriend – Beck, I had learned – she was with the crazy little redhead called Cat. But I wanted to talk to her, no, I _needed_ to. And I got my chance. Luck was on my side in a brief break between classes and I found myself standing by my locker, waiting like a hawk for Jade to show up at her own locker (hopefully alone), which was conveniently right across the hall from mine. I knew it had to be hers. Who else would decorate their locker door with scissors? Just a short couple of minutes passed and I found myself proven right when the now dark-haired Jade opened the with different colored scissors decorated black metal door and plucked a thin book out of her bag to replace it with a thicker one. This was my chance, she was alone and I could freely talk to her. So I began to walk toward her, really nervously might I add, until I stood right in front of her.

She glanced at me without much interest, then turned back to her locker. "What do you want?"

Her cold and bored tone caught me a little off guard and caused my smile to falter. I thought she'd be happy to see me again, just like I was, but apparently that wasn't the case at all. "I just wanted to-" I thought about what to say for a moment and settled for the probably dumbest thing ever. "-say hello."

She snorted quietly and shook her head. "Hello."

"Hello…" Well, that was probably the most awkward start of a conversation I've ever had. Her hands kept fumbling with something inside of her locker while I tried to think of something else to say, maybe something _smarter_ this time. "Um… Jade you… you _do_ remember me… don't you?" So much for smart. But at least it got a reaction out of her, which… was a good thing… I figured. I watched with baited breath as she stilled her hands, her lips pursed and her eyes staring into her locker. Then finally, she took a deep breath and turned toward me.

"You're Tori Vega," she simply said and still looked at me with that same cold indifference in her eyes.

I rolled my lips together and nodded, slowly and hesitantly. "Yes. I'm Tori Vega. We met in-"

"I know when we met," she interrupted me with an eyeroll, closed her locker door before crossing her arms and letting out an annoyed breath. "What do you want me to do now? Throw confetti?"

"I-" But I couldn't think of anything to respond. Why was she so… so cold? Didn't it mean anything to her that we've found each other again? We were best friends for God's sake, didn't that mean _anything_ to her anymore? It suddenly felt as if the bones of my ribcage shrunk together and painfully pushed against my heart, squeezing, prodding, biting at it. I had obviously been quiet too long for Jade's liking because she rolled her eyes again. "Listen, I know very well who you are but I don't see why that should matter. Don't make such a big deal out of it, seriously."

And then she just left. She left me standing there in the hallway of this completely strange school without as much as a glance back, and it hurt.

Man, did that hurt.


	2. Two

As soon as I walked through the door my eyes fell on Trina, sitting at the kitchen table with a huge bowl of… something green in front of her. When I let the door fall into the lock behind me she lazily turned to look at me. I wasn't really surprised when I saw the right side of her face completely coated in the green stuff. "Oh, there you are. How did you get home?"

I had texted Trina and told her not to wait for me because I had wanted to talk to Jade again, like, _really_ talk to her this time. But as I walked into the parking lot I only got a glimpse of Jade's back as she got into her car. I had called out to her but either she didn't hear me or she ignored me. I'd say it was the latter. "Why didn't you tell me that Jade goes to Hollywood Arts?"

Trina's eyebrows furrowed. "Who?"

"Jade!" She still looked clueless. I sighed and rolled my eyes, stepping up to the table. "Remember? Jade West!"

"Oh," she dragged out, nodding her head in realization, before she looked back at me, still confused. "She goes to Hollywood Arts?"

"Yes!"

"Huh." She looked at me for a moment longer before she shrugged and turned back to her beauty stuff. "I never knew that. Thought she lived in San Francisco."

"Yeah, well… She doesn't! She wouldn't be attending Hollywood Arts if she still lived there, would she?"

Trina looked at me weirdly. I knew I was probably overreacting. It wasn't Trina's fault that Jade was so freaking distant. But how could she not know that she and Jade were attending the same school? She must have seen her in the hall or something, right? I mean… this _new_ Jade really wasn't that hard to miss. Trina's voice pulled me out of my thoughts. "Well, since when is she back in L.A.?"

I let my eyes fall shut in an almost painful manner. "I don't know. She wouldn't talk to me."

I hear Trina shift before I feel her grab my upper arms. My eyes open again and I let her guide me onto the chair opposite from hers. She sat back down and looked at me sympathetically. I might have laughed at the sight of her half green face if Jade wouldn't have been the only thing I could think about. "Why is that? You two were so close."

"I know." My eyes ran over the texture of the table as my voice grew quiet. "I was so-" Surprised. Ecstatic. Overwhelmed. "-happy when I realized that it was _Jade_ standing in front of me. But she didn't even care."

"Maybe she just didn't recognize you."

"She did," I mumbled, picking at my nails, "She said she knows who I am but that it doesn't make a difference. She doesn't want me to make a big deal out of it."

"Oh. That's… not nice."

I hadn't been so naïve to think that my first day at a new school (especially at a school like Hollywood Arts) would be a walk in the park. But I also hadn't expected to run into Jade West. And even if I had expected that… in my mind our reunion went off way more… happy, I guess. In my mind Jade would be happy to see me. We would pick up where we left off and… no. Tori, just stop. Jade wasn't happy to see me. For whatever reason.

I suddenly felt all the disappointment and sadness the day had brought foaming up to form one huge ball located in the middle of my throat. Without another word I stood up, not acknowledging Trina's questioning voice as I walked or rather dragged myself up the stairs. Maybe I was just too sensitive. Maybe I shouldn't let Jade get to me so much. But how could I do that? If anyone knows how to turn off emotions: here was someone that really, desperately needed it. As I lied in my bed, arm thrown over my eyes (God, I was so dramatic. You're not dying, Tori. Get a grip!), I wondered what had happened with Jade over the last four years to make her act so indifferent toward me.

I let my mind wander and found myself thinking about a time where everything was way easier.

At least it _seemed_ easier.

_Eight year old Tori bit her lip and snuggled deeper under the blanket. Her eyes flicked restlessly over the glow in the dark stars glued to her ceiling as a question popped into her head. "Jade?"_

"_Hm?"_

"_When I die, will you be sad?"_

_The sheets under them rustled a little when Jade turned to her side. Tori watched in fascination as she saw that her blue eyes glittered, a little like real stars, in the faint moonlight that seeped through the window. "You're only nine. You won't die yet. Only old people die."_

"_I know. But…" She paused and turned onto her side too, so she and Jade were lying facing each other. Tori didn't really understand what _exactly_ death was, if she was completely honest. She knew her grandma was gone now and she knew that her mommy was sitting downstairs at the kitchen table, crying. She was sad and Tori was sad too, of course she was, she loved her grandma. But her daddy said she felt better now where she was – Tori didn't know where she was now. Her daddy said heaven, but Tori wasn't so sure. People couldn't live on clouds, could they? – so her mommy should be happy that she was there now, right? But everyone cried, even Trina, and Tori wondered why that was. She also wondered if Jade would cry too, if she would die someday. "When I'm old and I die… will you be sad? Will you miss me?"_

_Jade blinked a couple of times, her thick eyebrows tugging down and lips pursing while she thought about Tori's question. "Of course I will. But I don't think we are supposed to think about that kind of stuff. It's not good."_

_Tori nodded. Jade was probably right. And why should she think about it yet? Like Jade said, she was way too young to die. She shouldn't worry about it just yet. But… would Jade still be her best friend when she was… 104? Would she be there when she died?_

"_Jade?"_

_Tori propped up her elbow to rest her head in her palm and looked at the girl next to her, who had turned back onto her back and was staring at the ceiling. "What?"_

"_Do you think we will always be best friends?"_

"_Why shouldn't we be?"_

"_I don't know. Maybe… Maybe you won't like me anymore when I'm old."_

_Jade frowned and met Tori's eyes. "I will always like you. Even when you have wrinkles."_

_Tori grinned. "I'll always like you too."_

_With a nod, Jade turned to the ceiling again but the corners of her lips were tilted up into a small smile. They were both silent but not yet asleep, even though they should have gone to sleep a long time ago. Then, Tori's voice sounded through the room again._

"_Jade?"_

_A sigh. "Yes, Tori?"_

"_I can't wait to grow old and wrinkly with you."_

"Tori?"

My eyes snapped open when my mom's voice called out. I removed my arm from my face and craned my neck to look towards the door where she stood, gripping the door and hesitantly smiling at me. "Can I come in?"

I didn't even hear the door open and if I was honest, I just wanted to be alone. But I nodded, why, I have no clue. Mom sat down on the edge of my bed, that careful smile still on her face. "Trina told me you might need me."

I slowly nodded. "Jade is back."

"I've heard." She twisted her body toward me and her hand came to rest on my knee. "Have you talked to her?"

"Yeah. A little. But she didn't want to talk to me."

Mom hummed thoughtfully, her lips pressed together and eyes looking at a spot on my pillow next to my head. Maybe I was paranoid, maybe seeing Jade again just turned me completely crazy but the thought that my mother may have known that she was back settled into my brain, and before I could stop myself I accused her of just that. "Did you _know_ that Jade was back in L.A.? Did you just not tell me?"

My mom's eyebrows shot up as her eyes moved back to mine. "No, Tor! I didn't know that. I would have thought-" She broke off and shook her head before continuing. "-that Jade's mom would have let me know that they moved back here. Or did Jade move to live with her dad?"

The thought seemed _very_ absurd to me and I think mom had the same thoughts as me because she looked at me confusedly. Jade would _never_ willingly live with her dad. She and he didn't have such a good relationship after the divorce and even a couple of years before then. But then again… Jade did seem to have changed a lot, maybe they sorted it out with each other. Maybe the tables have turned and now Jade's mom was 'the bad one'. Maybe, maybe, maybe. Despite not having a single clue, I shook my head.

"I don't think so. I mean… her dad… No, I don't think she lives with her dad. But how would I know, she didn't want to talk to me."

I – childishly, I must admit – pouted and furrowed my eyebrows to which my mom sighed in response and gave my knee a squeeze. "Maybe she was just shocked to see you. She will come around, I'm sure. Tomorrow the world will look different."

_**-OS&SD-**_

The world _didn't _look different.

Thanks mom, for making me build up false hopes.

Jade was so _stubborn_. That was probably the only thing that hadn't changed about her. She avoided me as much as she could. Everywhere I tried to approach her, she just… spit a comment at me (_hurtful_ comments mostly, might I add) and pushed past me. I even tried to corner her in the bathroom but she just bolted out of the door, after pushing a poor freshman girl out of her way. Maybe I was just imagining things but slowly I got the impression that she was scared of talking to me alone.

But then I managed.

In the parking lot. That's where I got her. I almost thought she would hit me when I grabbed her arm and she whirled around but when she saw it was me, her body relaxed, slightly, but her scowl didn't vanish. "God, what do you want? You've been stalking me all day, what's the matter with you?"

"I haven't been _stalking _you. Is it such a bad thing that I want to talk to you?"

She shook my hand off and crossed her arms over her chest, her foot impatiently tapping. "You wanna talk? Then talk."

What? It was that easy? She looked at me expectantly but I found myself unable to say anything. What was the matter with me, seriously? This was what I wanted, I wanted Jade to talk to me and now I didn't know what to say? God, I was an _idiot_! When nothing came out of my mouth, Jade let her arms fall to her side and turned her head away, mumbling "I can't believe this."

She made a move to turn and get to her car but my voice stopped her. "Why did you leave me all alone?"

It was stupid and I didn't know where it came from but it made her stay, which was everything I needed. "What are you talking about?"

"You… You stopped writing. And calling. And I don't know what I did wrong. Just… It didn't make any sense, Jade. It still doesn't."

I couldn't see what was going on inside of her. All I knew was that her eyes stopped to glare at me and softened, for a moment bringing both of us back in time. And it gave me hope. Hope that maybe everything was just a big joke and… we'd be Jade and Tori again. But then she opened her mouth and reality came crashing down, brutally _killing_ that stupid hope. "It was better that way. Get over it, Tori."

"How can you say that?"

"How can I say that? How can _you_ still hang yourself up on me like that? I don't think that's healthy."

My breath hitched in my throat when the harshness of Jade's words hit me right in my chest. Maybe she was right. Maybe it wasn't healthy. But I didn't care. "So, you don't even want to try to get… _us_ back? You're just going to hate me now, just like that?"

Jade scoffed and crossed her arms again. "I don't hate you. But if you keep being so annoying that might change _very_ quickly." I kept my mouth shut then. What was I supposed to respond to that? I suddenly wished that I hadn't told Trina to go home without me today because I started to feel _miserable_. Weird how things have changed. I've always felt so comfortable whenever I was around Jade and now… now look at me. I pressed my lips tightly together when tears started to prick at my eyes. I should move. Just… move away from Jade, go home. But I couldn't. That would mean I gave up. It would mean I let Jade go.

"You're… you're not going to cry now… are you?"

And maybe that would be for the best. Let her go, I mean. But when I looked up at her, a burning lump in my throat, I saw her. I saw Jade. The Jade _I _knew. The girl who saved me from two mean little boys and the girl who got so worried about me when I had to get my tonsils removed. The way she looked at me right now was the same way she looked at me at the hospital. The same way she looked at me when my grandma died. Even the same way she looked at me when I scraped my knee really badly in fifth grade. She looked back at me with such worry that it almost seemed ridiculous. She could never bear to see me cry. So I took advantage of that short moment of vulnerability and didn't even bother to wipe away the tear that escaped. "Are you living with your dad now?" I swallowed when Jade's lips twitched and her eyes followed the path the tear had taken down my cheek. She briefly closed her eyes then and sighed.

"No, I… My mom and I moved back here about two years ago."

My eyes widened. _Two_ years ago? "Why didn't… You could have told me."

She looked at me for a long moment with her eyes still so soft. I wanted to hug her, to just… smell her, as weird as it sounded. Wow, I'm such a creep. I almost thought she would come around but then she shook her head. "Whatever Tori, I need to get home now." Her voice had lost its sharp edge, if that was a good thing or maybe not… I didn't know. This time I let her turn around. She walked through the almost empty parking lot but before she reached her car I called her name. "Jade?"

A little to my surprise, she turned around. "Yes, Tori?"

Once again, I didn't know what to say and blurted out the first thing that came to my mind. "I will always like you." I didn't know if I was imagining things. She _was_ standing pretty far away from me after all. But I was sure I saw a smile flitter across Jade's face before she lowered her head to the ground. And that smile was everything I needed. "And I won't give up on us. I will annoy you until we're old and wrinkly."

Her head shot up in surprise, her blue eyes wide. I smiled at her confidently before I turned on my heel and made my way home.

I will be victorious.

(If not, I'll eat a broom.)


	3. Three

You know, this morning I looked into the mirror and thought: Tori, don't get your hopes too high up, it's only going to bite you in the butt again. Expect nothing, then maybe you'll get something.

And boy, did I get something!

I decided I would change my way of approaching Jade. And by changing I mean stopping. Even though she talked to me yesterday and I could see glimpses of the old Jade, _my_ Jade, I figured that after I walked away from her with the announcement that she wouldn't get rid of me so easily, Jade would try to build her walls up even higher. Maybe even add an electric fence, just to be sure. So I didn't even bother to talk to her at all today. Instead, I focused on her friends.

Cat was first.

"Hey Cat!"

She turned away from the soda machine and smiled when she saw me. "Oh, hey Tori! How are you?"

"I'm good, what about you?"

"I'm great," she chirped happily and held up a can of Wahoo Punch, "I just got a soda! See?"

She giggled and made the can dance in front of my face. I nodded, my mouth in a tight smile. I still find it weird how the smallest things could excite this girl. For a moment I wondered why Jade and Cat were even friends, why they spent so much time together. I mean, they seemed to always be together, especially when Jade wasn't with Beck… It's not like I was jealous or anything but… it was weird. "That's great. So hey, I was wondering… if you could help me with something."

Cat nodded eagerly. "Oh, yeah sure! I love helping people!"

"Okay. See, here's the thing: Everyone is so nice to me here and I'm so happy about that but… there's one person who's… confusing me, I guess."

"Who?"

"Jade. And I don't really understand what's the deal with her."

Cat's head cocked to the side. "What do you mean, 'the deal'?"

"Well, I'm just wondering why she's so weird to me…"

I lean forward a bit as I looked at her expectantly. Maybe she knew something, something that I could use. But all she did was take a deep breath and shrug her shoulders. "It's just the way she is. She doesn't like…"people" very much." I was a little confused by the use of air quotes but I let her continue. "When I first met her she didn't want me around either. But now we're best friends!"

Bang! Why didn't she just shoot me right then and there? Maybe I lied. Maybe I _was_ jealous. But Cat was smiling at me so happily that I couldn't find even one little spark of anger toward her in my body. "Oh. I see." I forced a smile when Cat blinked up at me and hoped she didn't notice the disappointment that welled up inside of me at hearing her words. Jade obviously hadn't told her that she knew me before I showed up here three days ago and I wouldn't even think about telling anyone. There had to be a reason Jade didn't want anyone to know and I respected that. I mean, she didn't even tell her… best friend… about me. "How long have you and Jade been friends for?"

"For about two years! We both applied here the same year and we met at our auditions. Andre, Beck and Robbie too." She then started to launch into a weird story about her brother and potatoes and I figured I wouldn't get any more information out of her.

Next on my list was Andre but… he didn't really have that much to say other than that she could be pretty nice if she wanted to, but that it apparently didn't happen very often. Then he began playing on his keyboard and the conversation about Jade soon slipped into a discussion about the fact that nothing rhymed with orange.

All that I got from Robbie was that he was kinda scared of her and while he considered Jade to be his friend, he didn't think Jade thought the same about him. Oh yeah, and his puppet thought she's smoking hot, with which… I really couldn't argue to be honest.

And then… then there was Beck. Honestly, I didn't even want to talk to him at first. He was Jade's boyfriend after all and he didn't have such a short attention span like Cat. He would _most definitely_ tell Jade that I had asked him about her and I kind of had a feeling Jade wouldn't be too pleased about that. But Beck came up to me all on his own and how stupid would I be if I didn't grab the chance?

I was at my locker, not able to keep my eyes from flicking over to Jade's every couple of seconds, when he came up to me. "Hey Tori."

"Hey!" The right corner of his mouth lifted into a small smile while he leaned against the locker next to mine, his hands casually stuffed into the pockets of his pants. I really couldn't lie, he was ridiculously handsome. "What's going on?"

He lifted his right shoulder in a shrug. "Nothing. I got a free period now."

"Oh, lucky you. I would gladly swap with you." I wasn't joking. I would do anything to skip history. Ugh, I hate history.

"Say, what are you doing after school?"

"Um, nothing. Why?"

I found it a little bit strange that he would ask me that. I didn't really know what it was about him, but something was just… off, I guess. If I didn't know that he had a girlfriend I would seriously think he was interested in me. But what was I saying? I was probably just a little paranoid. "Jade has a project to work on and I planned to wait up for her so that we could hang out later on but she just yelled at me and told me to leave her alone. She's a bit… sensitive the last couple of days." Hm. Sensitive, huh? Wonder why that was. "So, wanna hang out?"

See? That's what I meant. He had a girlfriend who was – for all that he knew – mad at him about something but instead of trying to figure out what was going on he just… shrugged his shoulders and chased after the new girl. Not the best image of a good boyfriend, if you ask me. But wait… "Jade has a project to work on? Here in school?"

Beck seemed confused about my question (probably even more confused about the fact that I didn't immediately say yes to his _tempting_ offer to…'hang out'.) "Uh, yeah… some short film. Why?"

"Oh, just… just curious." I smiled tightly and nodded my head as an idea, probably not a very good one but an idea nonetheless, settled into my brain. "So anyways! I have to go, I'm late. Bye!"

"But wait, what about-"

But I was already around the corner, walking to my history class, thoughts of Jade invading my brain but… what was I talking about, what else was new?

_**-OS&SD-**_

So I was standing there, my heart furiously pounding against my ribcage as I stared up at the house. Jade's house. Thanks to Sinjin. I swear that boy was probably _the_ weirdest person I've ever met. But I wasn't complaining, after all he gave me Jade's address without really questioning my motives. He only gave me an awkward wink and told me that one particular bush at the side of the house had an – and I quote – 'excellent view into her living room'.

Wonder how he knew that…

I never had been in this neighborhood before, probably because it was pretty far away from my own. It was like Jade had planned to live so far away from me, everything to avoid running into me on the street. I took a deep breath, held it and walked up the path up to the brown door where I loudly exhaled before I pushed the doorbell. My heart stopped for a second when the door swiftly swung open after only a couple of seconds but I immediately smiled at the older woman who stood in front of me. She hadn't changed a bit. Her eyes, which reminded me an awful lot of Jade's, were still as friendly as ever as she looked at me with raised eyebrows. "Can I help-" She stopped mid-sentence, narrowed her eyes a little and leaned forward. "Tori?"

I couldn't keep the grin off of my face. "Hi, Mrs. West."

"Oh my God, Tori! It's so good to see you!" She eagerly stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug, which I all too gladly returned. Oh man, I've always loved Jade's mom. I never really understood how such a warm and friendly person could get married to someone like Jade's father. He was always so… serious all the time. I always wondered if he even knew how to laugh. Well, I guess opposites really do attract. "What are you doing here? Come in!"

She ushered me into the house and closed the door behind me. My eyes ran over the spacious parlor in which we stood, a small dining room of some sorts and the living room adjoining on either side of me and a fancy staircase leading up to the second floor. "It's Halliwell again, by the way." I turned back toward her. "I took my maiden name back after the divorce. But anyways, who cares about that! What brings you here, sweetheart? How did you know we were back in L.A.?"

"Well, um… I met Jade again… at Hollywood Arts."

"Oh. Jade didn't tell me."

"That doesn't surprise me."

Her eyebrow twitched up as she mumbled, "Yeah, me neither."

"Wh-What?"

I stared at her as her eyes widened a little. What was going on? "Come on, tell me what you've been up to."

I struggled a little when she started to push me forward, past the staircase, but I gave up soon enough and let her guide me into the kitchen without any resistance, where we both took a seat at the counter. She questioned me about how I got into Hollywood Arts, if something interesting had happened the past four years, she asked about Trina and my parents. I answered all of her questions almost as if I was on autopilot. But I didn't come here for chit chat, I reminded myself, and interrupted Jade's mom from asking even more questions. "Are you trying to distract me or something?"

She snapped her mouth shut so fast that I heard her teeth clank together. I narrowed my eyes at her. "What's going on?" Jade's mom bit her lip and tried to avoid looking directly into my eyes as her hands began to fiddle on top of the counter. Was she nervous? Why would she be nervous? "Ms. Halliwell," I started (Wow, it felt so weird calling her that.), "Why did Jade break off contact with me?"

She sighed, her eyes gravitating towards the counter. "I don't think it's my place to tell you, Tori."

"But you're the only one who _can_ tell me! Jade won't, I already tried. I just… I just want to understand. I don't understand what I possibly could have done for her to be… so mean to me now."

I pressed my fingernails into my palm when I realized how pathetically sad my voice sounded. God, this wasn't good. What next, would I start to cry? Jade's mom looked up at me, a small, almost sad smile on her face. I wondered if she felt sorry for me. "Jade has changed a lot over the last few years. Not just on the outside." There was a trace of gloom in her voice I had never heard from her before. "The divorce… hit her harder than we thought, but you know that. But… I made a really bad mistake when I decided to move to San Francisco with her. I shouldn't have separated her from you."

"She… cried almost every time she got off the phone with you." My eyes involuntarily widened. She cried? "She missed you a lot. I honestly don't know… what happened inside of her when she decided to stop writing you and talking to you. She just… came up to me one day and told me that she didn't want to talk to you anymore. I tried asking her for a reason, you know, I thought you two fought or something happened between the two of you. But when I talked to your mom about it she told me how… how bad you felt and that you didn't understand. And I didn't understand either, Tori. She wouldn't talk to me about anything anymore."

It was a _lot_ to take in. Since Jade was the one who broke everything off I had thought that _I _was the only one who really…'suffered'. But apparently that wasn't the case at all, which only led to confuse me even more. "So, then… why did you move back to L.A.?"

"That was more of a… spur of the moment decision. Kind of the last attempt of reeling Jade back in, get through to her again. I even tried to get her to call you or visit you when we moved back here but she didn't want that. She even made me swear that I wouldn't call your parents and tell them that we were back." She rolled her eyes and shook her head, again something that reminded me of Jade. "I don't know what's going on with her."

Great. If not even her mother knew, then who did? "Well, I-" But the words got stuck in my throat as I heard the front door slam shut.

"Mom, I'm home!"

Oh my God, why wasn't she at school? I almost hoped that she would go straight up to her room so that I could sneak out of the house without her ever finding out that I had been here. But how cowardly would that be? Besides, the plan wouldn't have worked because, well… she came straight into the kitchen. I put on my best smile when she walked through the doorway, her hair hanging in front of her face as she looked down at her phone. But then her eyes lifted and feet screeched to a halt. "Heeey Jade," I said with a big smile and wiggled my fingers in a wave, hoping that she didn't pick up on how nervous I really was.

Her jaw clenched. "You have _got_ to be kidding me."

_Gulp_.


	4. Four

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Well hey, at least she wasn't yelling. But was silent anger really that much better? After putting a little more thought into it – and feeling my skin being sliced open just by the look she sent me – I didn't really think so. I mean, there was practically fire shooting out of her eyes and I wouldn't even be surprised if she'd started to throw her scissors at me anytime soon. Oh man, Tori, what did you get yourself into? I was going to die, right on the spot, I was sure of it. "Jade, don't be so rude."

I almost forgot that Jade's mom was still sitting across from me, oh thank God. At least Jade wouldn't kill me with her mother in the same room. I'm sure you shouldn't kill someone with your mom in the room, imagine how disappointed she would be. Not that I was advertising killing people! The opposite, really! You shouldn't kill anyone, even if your mother _wasn't_ in the room. Killing was never an option, always remember that. Maybe someone should tell Jade that… Okay, wow Tori, stop talking about killing people. "I'm going to be as rude as I want! What is she doing here?"

She wasn't looking at me anymore, instead focusing solely on her mother, for which I was kinda grateful. I think I forgot how to breathe there for a moment. "Just calm down there, okay? I don't like your tone."

"I don't care if you like my tone, I can't believe you let her in!"

I looked from Jade to her mom who _seriously_ could keep up with her daughter in the glaring department. "What was I supposed to do, slam the door into her face? Besides, this is my house young lady, I can let in whoever I want!"

Jade's eyes suddenly snapped to me. "How did you even know where I live?"

I refused to bust Sinjin; who knew if the poor boy would be able to walk tomorrow if I did. "I did some research," I simply answered with a nonchalant shrug, even though inside of me everything screamed for me to run away before she would claw me to pieces. Jade's eyes narrowed dangerously but before she could question me further, Ms. Halliwell came to my rescue. "What in the world has gotten into you to treat Tori so bad? She's done nothing to you and if I'm honest, I'm fed up with you acting like everyone wants to harm you!"

I swallowed when Jade's angry gaze moved back to her mother. I felt so bad for making a fight break out between them. "I just want her to leave me alone! I want _you_ to leave me alone! Is that so hard to understand?"

"Yes, it is!"

"Well, too bad. Just get her out of here!"

"I'm not going to throw her out, Jade. If you want her to go, then try to talk to her like a civilized person first. " She sighed, rubbed her forehead and then got up from her stool, turning to me to shoot me a small smile. My heart sped up when I realized that she was going to leave me and Jade alone. "It was great to see you again, Tori." And then she added, almost as a jab at Jade, "You're always welcome here." If I wasn't feeling so uncomfortable I would probably have found it funny how mother and daughter glared at each other before the former left the room.

Have you ever seen 'The Exorcist'? You know, the part where that possessed girl turns her head and-… no I'm kidding. It wasn't _that_ bad. But I swear I died a little when Jade turned her head toward me, agonizingly slow at that. She stared at me for so long that I was scared to move even the slightest bit. But I flinched away slightly when she stalked over to me and her palm loudly slapped against the surface of the counter. Oh my _God,_ someone please tell my family I loved them. "What is _wrong_ with you?" she growled quietly, her face so close to mine that I had to resist the urge to lean back. "I seriously have the urge to strangle you right now."

"Killing people is not good, you know," I stupidly blurted out and leaned my head a little bit away from Jade's, "It's just… not good."

Did I seriously believe Jade was going to kill me? No. Did I think she'd be capable of killing me? Well, who knew but… no, I really didn't. But I just didn't know what else to say, especially not with Jade so close to me. Jade pushed a breath through her gritted teeth before moving even closer to me. Oh boy. "I swear, Tori, you're the most annoying human being I've ever come across. What have I got to do for you to leave me alone? And don't you dare play the crying card on me again."

"Just… just talk to me, please?" I felt her sigh, her breath hitting the bridge of my nose. "I'm going to go after, I promise. You know, if… if you'll still want me to."

"Oh, I'll still want you to, I can promise you that," she pushed out threateningly and I felt myself losing balance on the bar stool as I leaned back even more. I yelped loudly, my arms flailing and eyes wide open but a pressure on my back kept me from falling backwards. I released a relieved breath when I realized that Jade's arm had wound around me, her hand keeping me from falling off the stool.

"Thank you," I breathed out, my hands on Jade's shoulders flexing to give them a light squeeze. I involuntarily swallowed hardly as Jade's eyes moved all over my face before she blinked almost in realization, as if she just realized how close we were, removed her hand from my back and stepped away.

"Let's go," she mumbled and strolled out of the kitchen, leaving me to awkwardly scramble off the bar stool to follow her. We went up the stairs, walked down the small hall until we reached Jade's room. Red and black. Everything was red and black and… dark. Dark but comfortable. I don't know how long I was looking around Jade's room, all I know is when I turned to her bed, I saw Jade sitting there, staring at me without uttering a single sound. I waited for her to say something but nothing came. I nodded.

"Okay. Then I'll start." I waited a few more seconds in which I hoped Jade would maybe take the initiative, but all she did was stare at me. So I took a deep breath and started the conversation that would hopefully bring a little light into the situation. "I've never stopped thinking about you. Not even one day and… not one day passed without me wondering what had gone wrong." I interlaced my fingers to keep them from fiddling. "You owe an explanation to me."

Jade's eyebrows jumped up. "I _owe_ you an explanation?"

"You do."

She began to chuckle. Her eyes moved away from me as she shook her head. I waited and waited, but it seemed like hours had passed when Jade finally turned her attention back to me. "I don't owe you anything," she said with all humor she had seen in the situation before gone from her face, from her voice, and instead a cold and protecting mask shielding her from showing what she really felt. I found myself getting angry at her refusal to talk to me but I knew that blowing up in her face wouldn't really bring me anywhere closer. So I pressed my lips together and nodded while I thought about what to say next. After a short few seconds of silence, I walked over to her bed and sat down next to her.

"I… missed you. Didn't you miss me too? Not even a little bit?"

I looked at her hopefully. Her eyes showed so much more than she would ever let on but she probably was aware of that because she looked away as soon as I saw the hard edges of blue softening, head lowering so that her hair was shielding her face again. I sighed and shuffled, just a tiny inch, closer to her. "You can't tell me that you didn't," I continued softly, "I can see that you still care about me, you know."

But Jade stayed quiet, kept her eyes down. The fingers of her left hand began playing with a loose string on her bedding between us. God, this was going nowhere. I don't know, I think I preferred it when she was mad at me. At least she had been talking to me then. "So… how's San Francisco? I've… never been there."

Although I didn't expect an answer, I got one. "It's warm. Sunny. A lot of up and down. Cable Cars, the Golden Gate Bridge. It's nice."

Well, I could've googled that. Nevertheless I nodded slowly and then asked "Did you like it there? Or… or were you glad that you could move back here?"

She sighed heavily and finally lifted her head, although she still didn't look at me. "I didn't care. I guess Hollywood Arts is a plus though. Have we talked enough yet?"

"No," I stated defiantly, earning myself another sigh from her. "Tell me why."

"Why _what_?"

"Why… you stopped talking to me all of sudden. You could start with that."

"Because I wanted to."

"Jade, please," I begged, my eyebrows moving together.

"God, Vega! I don't want you here! Can't you just go?" Her voice failed to deliver the supposed resentment she wanted her words to hold so I found it impossible to feel offended by her small outburst. Instead I moved closer, up until our knees were lightly brushing against each other's and my little finger lightly skimmed over Jade's from where her hand was still resting between us on the bed. She jerked away so suddenly that I was afraid that she would hit me but she just pushed out a long breath and gripped the edge of her bed tightly in both of her hands, knuckles turning white. Then she spoke, quietly, her eyes staring ahead. "Will you leave me alone when I tell you?"

I hesitated before I nodded my head. "Yes." I knew it was a lie and Jade knew as well.

"Do you _promise_?"

"I- Jade, just tell me." I couldn't make a promise to her that I knew I probably would never be able to keep. If I was honest, I didn't think I'd ever be able to leave her alone, to completely let her go. ... Oh God, maybe I _am_ a stalker... Out of panic at the images that flooded my brain (me joining Sinjin in that bush that had an 'excellent view' into Jade's house, binoculars held in front of my eyes) I promised her without really thinking about it. "No, I… I promise you. Promise, okay?"

Jade sighed loudly. I watched as she closed her eyes but opened them only shortly after, before she started talking. "I _couldn't_ talk to you again."

My eyebrows knitted together. "Why?"

"Because it hurt."

I opened my mouth to say something, anything really, but I just… couldn't. I didn't know what to say, what I was _supposed_ to say. But I didn't even have to, because Jade continued. "I thought something was wrong with me," she confessed, her fingers that were folded in her lap twitching now and then, "I didn't think… anyone was supposed to miss another person as much as I missed you. Besides, I was only twelve. But I felt… so lost without you."

"And… that's why you stopped…" I trailed off, not really knowing… I mean… How did that even fit together?

Jade shrugged. "Yes."

I stared at her for a long time before it just burst out of me. "That doesn't make any sense, Jade!"

For the first time, Jade turned to look at me. "It did to me!"

"How? _How_ does that make sense? Seriously Jade, I don't understand!"

Jade's eyes flashed. "I couldn't hear your voice anymore because it hurt so much! And I… the only logical thing for me to do was to _not_ talk to you anymore. I thought if I cut all strings with you I'll still have a chance to forget you and… stop hurting but… God Tori, it was for the best! I needed to get away from you, _emotionally_."

I shot up from the bed as I felt tears welling up. God no, I wouldn't cry. Not here. "Well, do you know what you did to _me_? I wasn't feeling any better than you!"

"Yeah, well I'm sorry. But what's done is done." But the shake of her head and the eye roll she gave me made it hard to see her apology as sincere. We were silent for a long time, both of us avoiding looking at the other one. I wanted to go home before I really would start crying. But still, maybe something in Jade changed, now that she had told me her (_cough_, stupid, _cough_) reason. My eyes looked up from running over the grain of the wooden floor to settle on Jade who looked at something somewhere off to the side.

"Do you still want me to go?"

Without looking at me, she answered. "Yes."

I nodded, partly relieved, partly disappointed and turned around. I stopped at the door one last time though and looked back at her. "Jade?"

She sighed tiredly and let her hand fall from her forehead. "What Tori, what?"

"Did you ever manage?"

Her exasperated eyes met mine. "Did I manage what?"

"To forget me…"

My entire being was waiting for one, simple answer and my heart ached so much as Jade looked at me, almost pained, without her usual protection shield keeping her from showing what she really felt. I thought that maybe I had managed now, maybe she would stop with this stupid charade she was playing. But she didn't. "Just go now," she quietly muttered and I didn't have the strength to argue with her anymore.

So I did what she told me. I kept my promise.

I left.

* * *

_A/N: So, some of you got the Charmed references. Halliwell and San Francisco. So to everyone who got it: You'll get a virtual cookie from me! I wanted to say something else... I think it was important, but I forgot... well, couldn't have been that important then.  
_


	5. Five

No one could even imagine how glad I was that my first week at Hollywood Arts was officially over and the weekend rolled around, promising me time for myself, time to shut off my head. Like I promised her, I stayed away from Jade as best as I could with, you know, both of us hanging around the same group of people.

I'll be honest. I thought about going back to Sherwood, to just… forget that I ever saw Jade again because… because it hurt. A lot. It wasn't supposed to be like this. We're _Jade & Tori_. We shouldn't be acting like we're strangers because we're not. But whatever, it is what it is. No need to dwell on things…

Aside from Jade, the first week at Hollywood Arts was… interesting, with a lack of a better word to say. From having to do the Bird Scene to customizing my locker… this school was really something else. So like I said, I was glad when the weekend came so that I could get my mind off of school stuff and most importantly, get my mind off of Jade.

Let me just say that it didn't work out.

My head was always with her, no matter what I did. I thought back to the conversation we had in her room. I thought about what she had told me, that it hurt to talk to me. That she… wanted to forget me. The fact that she even thought about forgetting me stung, I can't deny that, but… she didn't succeed. She didn't answer my question when I asked her but that was kind of answer enough, don't you think? I think it _still_ hurt. She was still feeling that pain she had felt when she cut all strings with me because she thought it was for the best. And she's hurt that she couldn't just go back to the way we were before she moved to San Francisco, just like I was. But I knew I couldn't take that pain away from her. Or rather… I could, but I knew she wouldn't let me. So I did what she wanted me to do.

I stayed away from her, only talked to her when it was really necessary.

For two weeks.

It was hard, let me tell you that. But it was what Jade wanted and being the pathetic loser I am, I would do anything for her. I respected her wish, even if it really wasn't what I wanted. Although she still refused to talk to me normally – not counting her snappy and actually pretty hurtful remarks – and she sometimes even refused to acknowledge the fact that I existed, I could still see that I wasn't just anybody to her, as much as she wanted me to believe that. I'd see her look at me, out of the corner of my eye at lunch, for far longer than it was deemed appropriate for someone who claimed to not be interested at all in me.

And today… today really got the wheels in my head working.

It was lunchtime and I slowly made my way into the Asphalt Café. When I got there however, I almost turned back around when I saw that only Beck and Jade were sitting at our usual table. I have to admit, I _was_ kind of jealous of Beck. He could always be with Jade whenever he wanted to, without her complaining even the slightest bit. And although they fought _a lot_ – seriously, I think there were only four or five days in the three weeks I've been here where they didn't fight about the smallest of things – they were also… _affectionate_ with each other, to the point where I simply wanted to barf. I mean sure, they could kiss each other as much as they wanted but did they really have to do it in front of me? I didn't think so. Not that I was saying I was jealous of Beck being able to-... whatever. I'm not going to dive into _that_ topic. So anyway, I decided that I shouldn't feel forced to turn around to avoid Beck and – more importantly – Jade. Why would I? Jade didn't control my life, I could do whatever I wanted. So I walked up to them with as much confidence I could muster, even smiling in what I think was kind of a provocative manner when Jade looked up at me. "Hey guys!"

Beck lifted his chin in some sort of greeting and motioned for me to sit down. "Hey, come sit." I did so and saw Jade rolling her eyes. "Does she _have _to sit here?" she asked with a glare directed at her boyfriend who in turn just raised his eyebrows and affirmed her question, making her eyes roll again. Beck and I began talking about the homework assignment Sikowitz gave us while Jade ignored us both for the most part, glaring down at her salad and continuously stabbing it aggressively. Well, someone got anger issues. After a couple of minutes Andre and Cat joined us, followed by Robbie who also appeared after a while. "So did you find a good present for Trina?"

I turned to Cat and sighed. Trina's birthday – pardon me, _birthweek_ – was coming up next week and I still had no clue what to get her. "No. I considered getting that massage helmet but… I don't know, it's stupid."

A groan from the other side of the table made me look away from Cat and turn my attention toward Jade who gave her salad a particular vicious stab. "God, don't make a big deal out of it and get her _something_! She already gets her stupid birthweek every year, she should be glad you all go along with that."

"How do you know about Trina's birthweek?"

I watched Jade's shoulders tense at Robbie's question and had to stop myself from smirking. One glare from Jade made Robbie shrink down in his seat and before anyone else could ask more questions, she got up from the table, grabbed her bag and said "You people give me a rash," before walking inside, of course not after shooting me an extremely dirty look. As if it was my fault that she couldn't keep her big mouth shut.

"She's been in some ganky mood lately," Andre observed while everyone else around the table nodded their heads in agreement.

"Gankier than usual," Cat chimed in, her eyebrows tugging down, a small crease forming in the middle of her forehead.

If only they knew.

_**-OS&SD-**_

The door of my locker suddenly slammed shut with a loud bang, making me jump back a little. It shouldn't have came as a surprise to me that Jade was the one who so _gently_ 'asked' for my attention but when I looked to my right, I was caught slightly off guard to see her scowling at me. Her hand, that laid flatly on the words 'Make it Shine' slid down and fell to her side as she took a step closer to me. "I don't want you telling _anyone_ about us, understood?"

"I'm not the one who slipped up," I said defensively, referencing to the comment she made about Trina's birthweek earlier that day, "Besides, what is there to tell about _us_?"

"I don't know but I'm sure you'll find something."

"My world doesn't revolve around you, Jade." But I couldn't even be mad at the fact that a teasing smirk began to take a hold of her lips because I knew it was a lie. It kind of _did_ revolve around her, at least since I saw her again, as sad as it may sounded.

"Doesn't it?" she asked tauntingly, her hand gently lying on top of my locker again as she leaned her head closer to me. "Because I think it does. I think we _both_ _know_ it does."

Hold up. Was she enjoying this? I thought she wanted me to leave her alone but here she was now, almost… almost _flirting_ with me (Oh my God, _was _she flirting with me?!) and… I had no idea what she was up to, which kind of frightened me. My eyes automatically shifted to her lips as her tongue poked out to moisten them. "So have I made myself clear?" I swear, she's got some lips… they're so beautifully shaped and full and- Tori, focus! I snapped my eyes back up, eyebrows slightly rising as I thought of what to say.

"I um… I guess so, yeah."

"Good." She abruptly stepped back, the teasing glint in her eyes gone. "Because I guarantee you, Vega… If you tell anyone anything I'm going to cut your pretty hair off." She turned and sauntered away, looking back over her shoulder to smirk at me. "You know how much I like that."

_Curious brown eyes rested on the silver gleaming object that cut off another chunk of blonde hair, while their owner, an eight year old girl with pale blue eyes, furrowed her eyebrows and poked her tongue through her lips in concentration._

"_Why do you like scissors so much?"_

_It had never really occurred to her before, or maybe it had and she had just ignored it. But all of sudden Tori wondered where exactly her friend's fascination for the dangerous objects came from and why she always had a pair with her. Jade looked up and twisted her lips in thought. "I just do," she responded after a small moment in which she thought about the question before she turned back to the Barbie in her hand, turning her attention to the other side of her head where long blonde hair still flowed down to the plastic doll's shoulder._

"_But… there has to be a reason."_

"_No," Jade argued with a shrug and began guiding the scissors over the artificial hair, "There doesn't have to be a reason for everything."_

"_Oh." Tori turned back to the paper lying on the table in front of her, a bright yellow sun already drawn in the right corner of it. Her eyebrows furrowed as she stared at the otherwise white paper. "I didn't know that."_

"_Now you do."_

_They each worked in silence, Jade on cutting the Barbie's hair and Tori on her drawing, but Tori's hand suddenly slowed down, slower and slower until it completely stopped and brown eyes timidly lifted to peer at Jade. "Um so… is there a reason… why we are friends?"_

_Her question brought Jade to abandon her scissors and Barbie and twist her body toward her. "What?"_

_Tori's eyes flew down to her lap when the pressure of Jade's curious gaze got too much for her. "Well, I just… I wondered if there is a reason for why you are friends with me or… if there's not a reason for that either."_

_Tori shyly peeked up but lowered her head again when she saw that Jade was still staring at her in that curious and questioning way. "I was just wondering," she mumbled sheepishly, her face heating up with a deep blush._

"_Do you need a reason?"_

"_I guess not." Her face still burning up in embarrassment, Tori looked up at her friend. "But is there?"_

"_I'm not sure," Jade slowly said with a shrug and turned to look at her silver scissors, "I think… I need to protect you. That's the reason, I think."_

_A wave of disappointment crashed down on the brown-eyed girl, causing her to lower her head again. She had expected her to say something different. Maybe something she would have said if Jade had asked her the question. That she thought she was cool and she always had fun with her. Or that she didn't think she needed any other friends because she knew Jade would always be there for her. _

"_Also," Jade added after a short while without looking up at her, "I kind of like you. You're my best friend. I think that's reason enough."_

I stared after Jade even long after she had left.

My mind was completely blank, the only image in my head Jade's smirking face. And it annoyed the hell out of me! Who did she think she was? What was she _thinking_? I stayed away from her for three weeks and now she was… making _fun_ of the fact that I cared about her? Without putting much thought into it I grabbed my bag from the floor and stormed up the stairs where I watched Jade disappear. I found her standing next to Cat's locker, arms crossed, foot propped up against one of the lower lockers and head tilted to the side as she listened to the small redhead babble on about something. I stormed up to them, completely ignoring Cat's cheery greeting and focusing solely on Jade.

"I need to talk to you." Her eyes lazily moved toward me. "Now. _Alone_."

"About what?"

My teeth ground together at her oblivious behavior. "You'll see."

She pushed herself off of the lockers with an exaggerated sigh and looked at me with raised eyebrows. "Okay, then," she said with a careless shrug. I waited but she didn't move a muscle. With an eye roll and an irritated breath I snatched up her wrist and dragged her – without much resistance from her, surprisingly – away from a confused Cat, into an empty classroom where I completely blew up.

"Do you think this is funny? I can't _believe _you think this is funny!"

Jade's eyes narrowed curiously and her head tilted as she stood in front of me with crossed arms. "What is it again that I think is funny?"

But I didn't get the chance to answer her as my mouth already spluttered out, "I can't _believe_ you would play with my feelings like that."

Jade's eyebrows shot up. "I played with your feelings? And when was that?"

"Just now! You, _you_ with your stupid smirk and… and the way you _look_ at me, it's… Ugh!"

"You're overreacting, Tori."

Was I? Yeah, I probably… no, _most definitely_ overreacted but you know what? I didn't care. "You're so confusing! I thought you wanted me to leave you alone and I _did_, I did but you, you, you…"

"I...?"

"You keep giving me those glances and-"

"So it's illegal to look at you?"

"For someone who doesn't want me around you sure look at me a lot!"

Jade's lips twitched as she tried to hide her growing smile. Why was she _smiling_? I blushed under her amused gaze and moved my eyes to the floor. Was I seriously freaking out because she _looked_ at me? Oh God, please make a bolt of lightning hit me. "What I wonder is," she started casually while she began to slowly walk toward me, "How you even know that I look at you. I mean… does that mean you _look _at me too? Can I press charges against you now?" I lifted my eyes, locking them with hers. She looked at me, again with that teasing sparkle, and now I seriously started to question her sanity. What had gotten into her? "Maybe I just think you're pretty," she said tauntingly and I found myself wondering if she really meant it. I _hoped_ she really meant it.

She looked off to the side for a small moment, her lips pressed together as she seemed to think about something, before she turned back to me. "Can I tell you a secret?" she murmured quietly. I took in the serious air that suddenly enveloped her and moved my head up and down in a slow nod.

"Yes."

Again she ran her tongue over her lips, my eyes gravitating toward them. "I found myself wishing… actually more than once… that you would break your promise."

My eyes widened and snapped back up to hers. She took a step back but didn't break eye contact with me while I stared at her dumbly, my head not being able to form words. I thought maybe I misheard but… no, I didn't.

"I need to get to class," Jade spoke up after an uncomfortable silence with me staring at her. Unfortunately, I found myself unable to move and looked on as Jade made her way to the door. "You should too," she called back over her shoulder before she went out of the door-

-and left me completely brain-dead.

* * *

_A/N: Timeless Reader: No. I just wanted a visual of Jade's mother for myself and I was watching Charmed so... yeah. I just threw some references in for the heck of it.  
_

_Jay aka Jordan: "Her hair was black now, an even darker shade than the one her mother had." ; "Her eyes, which reminded me an awful lot of Jade's (...)" Prue, obviously ;)_


	6. Six

_A/N: Heavy influences from The Worst Couple. Oh no... 'I just gave away the ending. SPOILER ALERT!'_

_;)_

* * *

"Vega!"

My sister's chattering about some boy abruptly stopped and just then did I realize that I haven't been listening to one word she had said. My mind was still reeling from the encounter with Jade earlier, that I just couldn't think about anything else. Trina and I both stopped and turned around but as soon as my eyes fell on the person who called out I knew I was spoken to. Jade walked over to us, her eyes meeting mine. "You," she clarified while pointing a finger at me.

I swallowed the nervous lump that began forming in my throat. "What's up?" I had meant for my voice to come out casual and, you know, _normal_ but instead I sounded like someone who just ran a marathon and was dying from a lack of oxygen. Jade glanced over at Trina. "You can go. I'll bring her home."

My eyebrows almost touched my hairline and I was only barely able to answer Trina when she asked me if that was okay with me. "Sure, yeah. Go home," I said without looking at my sister. With a loud sigh, Trina walked away from us, her heels clacking loudly but getting quieter and quieter the more she distanced herself.

"So have you recovered from what I told you earlier?"

Barely. "I um, yeah, I, I, I-"

Fortunately, Jade interrupted my stammering. "Obviously not," she stated while lifting her un-pierced eyebrow at me. "What is it _exactly_ that makes you so nervous? The fact that I said what I said or just… my mere presence?"

"I… You don't make me nervous." I don't think I've ever lied as much as I did in the last few days. "It's just that… I wondered if you really meant it."

She took a look around the parking lot before she shifted her eyes back to me. "Why wouldn't I have meant it?"

"I don't know. I don't know a lot of things about you anymore."

"Yeah… But you wanted to change that, didn't you?"

I couldn't figure out if she really was being honest. After all, she was an actress. A good one. She could probably fool me anytime. But then again, this was _Jade_. No matter how much she might have changed I didn't think she would ever hurt me in any way. Not in such an extent. I ultimately decided that, whether or not she was telling the truth, there was no way that I would let the opportunity to get closer to Jade slip away. So I nodded my head and just took the risk. "Yes."

"Then let's go."

_**-OS&SD-**_

I could have thought of a dozen places Jade had planned to take me, home being the first on the list. But instead of seeing the familiar house I live in, or even Jade's house, I found myself at the beach, silently walking next to an equally silent Jade. We walked and walked but both of us didn't utter a single word. Personally, I just didn't _know_ what to say. I got fidgety after a while, the silence really getting to me. Was it a good or a bad thing that Jade didn't say anything? Barely three words had left her lips since we left the school. You can imagine what a weird – and _long_ – car ride it had been. "Come on."

My heart jumped and my eyes snapped toward her, my feet immediately stopping when I saw her sit down in the sand, knees pulled up to her chest and arms wrapped around them. She looked at me expectantly but I stayed glued to the spot. "What, you just gonna stand there? I won't bury you in the sand if that's what you're concerned about. Come sit with me."

I blushed a little but the bright light of the sun blended Jade's eyes and made her squint, so that she couldn't have seen my embarrassment. At least I hoped so. As soon as I sat down next to her she began talking, her eyes steadily kept in front of her. "You know I saw you at the Big Showcase."

"You did?"

"I did. I recognized you the moment you stepped on stage, looking scared as hell." I smiled at the memory, of how I was so completely _terrified_ of performing in front of so many people. If I had known that Jade was there, somewhere in the crowd, my heart would have probably completely given out. Jade shrugged. "It was easy. You haven't really changed that much."

"You have."

Jade pushed out a breath through her nose as the corners of her mouth lifted up. "Probably," she mumbled almost dazedly before she continued. "I should have expected to run into you someday. It was naïve of me to think that that would never happen, especially with Trina attending the same school as me and chiz. But you know." She took a deep breath, stretched her legs out and put the weight of her upper body on her hands behind her, her squinting eyes now moving to look at me. "On your first day… I hoped you wouldn't remember me anymore. But I knew the moment you looked at me that you remembered. And… I didn't know if I should be happy or… scared shitless."

"Why should you be scared?"

I curiously watched Jade open her mouth before she slowly closed it again and turned to look at the ocean in front of us. "Do you remember when you and your dad taught me how to swim?"

"_Jade, come on! It will be fun! Don't be scared."_

"_I'm not scared," Jade pouted with furrowed eyebrows and crossed her arms over her blue swimsuit. She blinked at Tori, the water already standing up to the tanner brunette's belly, but quickly lowered her gaze and hugged herself tighter when she felt a lump forming in the middle of her throat. She didn't want to learn how to swim, she _hated_ water._

"_Come on, sweetheart. Tori's right, swimming is fun." Tori's dad's voice was low and soothing as he gently pushed her closer to the pool. When she stepped her feet into the warm water Jade suddenly wished her mommy was here to save her from drowning – even though she was perfectly aware that she wasn't even really in the water yet – and take her home, even if that meant she had to spend her day together with her grumpy daddy. But when two small, wet hands engulfed her own dry one, and blue eyes lifted to find the face of her best friend, complete with sparkling brown eyes and encouraging smile, Jade suddenly forgot all about her mother._

_After all, she still had Tori to save her from drowning._

"It was the first time I really saw you being scared of something."

"I wasn't scared!" She turned her head to look at me with an almost incredulous expression on her face. "I just had respect!"

I smirked. "Of the water?"

"Yes! Water can be dangerous. Plus, I didn't know how to swim yet so… the _respect_ I had," she said with a pointed look, "was kinda justified."

I chuckled and nodded my head before both of us looked out at the ocean. For a while, there was only the sound of the waves as we both sat in the sand, quietly. Then I turned back to her. "So is there a reason you took me here? To the beach?"

"You mean other than attempting to drown you after this conversation?" I rolled my eyes but smiled at her teasing smirk. "No reason. I just wanted to be alone with you." My lips stretched into a bright grin but when Jade saw that, she quickly proceeded to add, "I mean, this was the perfect place to not be seen by anybody important. Can't risk to be associated with someone as uncool as you."

"Oh, ha ha. You're _very_ funny."

"Thanks. I get that a lot."

I laughed softly and watched Jade's fingers absentmindedly draw figures into the sand. "So… what happens next?"

A red ball suddenly hit the sand a couple of feet in front of us and we both stayed quiet as a small boy came running over, smiling shyly at us as he picked the ball up and ran away again. "I'll bring you home, I guess."

"No. I meant… generally. With us."

Again there was only the sound of the water and birds and laughing children before Jade answered me. "I guess we could… try to get to know each other again. If you want."

"If I want? Seriously? I think you know my answer."

Jade smiled and rolled her eyes. "But I still don't want you telling anyone about us."

"What's so bad if they knew?"

"They don't need to know everything about me. Especially not that I was such a wuss when I moved away."

"Not even Beck?"

A loud sigh escaped her lips at the mention of her boyfriend. "No, not even him. We've been fighting a lot lately. I'm not really in the mood to talk to him about anything, if I'm honest."

"I see…" Was it bad that I was kind of glad that she didn't want to talk to him? I was so happy, after all, she could be spending her time with Beck but instead she took me to the beach to be alone with _me_. To spend time with _me_, not with Beck. I felt horrible about it but then again… I actually didn't care. I got to spend time with Jade and that's all I cared about. So whatever feeling the way I felt made me, it really didn't matter to me. "Okay then. It's gonna be our little secret."

She lifted her hand to shield her eyes from the sun and turned to look at me, our eyes meeting. For a moment we just looked at each other and I felt myself transferred into a sappy romantic comedy movie as she quietly murmured "Okay," and kept her eyes locked on mine. But then Jade reminded me with who exactly I was sitting here on the beach, showing me that the words 'sappy' and 'romantic'… didn't really fit all that well together with Jade. "There's one thing I still know about you though: you're probably the biggest weirdo in history of mankind."

I gasped in mock offence. "I am definitely not!"

"Do you still like Scooby Doo?"

"…No comment."

A happy laugh left Jade's lips – something I didn't hear out of her mouth in a long time – and after she got to her feet, she held her hand out to me. "Let's go, you dork." Despite the playful jab I grinned, put my hand in hers and let her pull me to my feet. Before I really had the chance to acknowledge the little butterflies in my stomach, Jade's hand let go of mine and she began walking back the same path we came. "You're going to buy me ice-cream now. Otherwise I might have to rethink my decision not to drown you."

_**-OS&SD-**_

I quickly adjusted to this new, _improved_ situation between me and Jade. We began to spend a lot of time together, even at school, although Jade still refused to really admit to anyone else but me that we were friends. She still had a slight reluctance to actually _be_ _nice_ to me in front of our friends, claiming it would look weird if she'd switch from "hating" me to liking me in a matter of one day. But that was okay with me. As long as she didn't shut me out again I really couldn't care less.

There were things that were still the same about Jade: her stubbornness, the way she knew an answer to every single one of my questions or even her habit of running her tongue over the front of her teeth. But there were also new things for me to discover. Her dry humor. Her short temper. Her incredible voice. I swear, I get goose bumps just thinking about it.

We became friends again. I learned about her favorite movie, that gory horror flick 'The Scissoring' (…awkward title, don't you think?), she about Tobey Maguire being my favorite Spiderman (to which she just said that it was the obvious choice for me because 'Tobey Maguire's Spiderman is way dorkier than Andrew Garfield's'). But as we proceeded to spend more and more time together (mostly behind everyone else's back), Jade's relationship with Beck began to slowly break apart. Everyone could see it, everyone feared a break up would be the next inevitable step but I wasn't so sure if Jade herself saw it too. They fought, of course they did, but I just… wasn't really sure if Jade even realized the massive frequency of those fights.

Then one day, she realized. Although in a much more painful way than I would have liked for her.

We were sitting in Sikowitz's classroom, waiting for Sikowitz like we do most of the time. I really don't understand why he's always late to class. I mean, does he sometimes just forget that he's a teacher? Anyway, that day, both, Beck and Jade were in an _incredibly_ awful mood, which… only led to more fighting between them. But I didn't really acknowledge them very much, _I_ had my own problems after all. My phone was completely messed up. And I mean _completely_. I didn't even know why, I dropped it in the toilet, yeah, but only three times! It should have worked fine! Sure, I could have bought a new phone but- wait, no, I didn't want to tell you about my phone. Okay. Back to Beck and Jade.

Sinjin suddenly came into the classroom – still no sign of Sikowitz – and announced that some website wanted to do 'Queries for Couples', the game show he had invented, and he wanted all of us to come to his rehearsal. So we went to the studio of GameGoober dot com the following day which… was probably the worst thing we could have done. My phone was still acting up, Beck and Jade were still fighting and when the owner of the website thought Sinjin's game show participants were not good-looking enough, all six of us had to take their place in the show. I felt more than uncomfortable as I sat next to Robbie and it was Beck and Jade's turn to answer a query. It was something about being stranded on a boat in the ocean. The first thing Jade said was that she didn't go in the ocean to which Beck started to lecture her, stating that they were there to help their friend.

"You _know_ what happened to me when I was in 3rd grade and I went into the ocean!"

I frowned. _I _didn't know what happened.

"The dolphin was just being friendly!"

A dolphin? What could a dolphin do to you?

And after Cat began talking about dolphins and that movie where that one dolphin solves crimes, Sinjin's mood got even worse than it already had been when Jade made clear once again that she would _not_ go into the ocean to which Sinjin just yelled at her to choose one of the answer possibilities, which he hadn't even told her yet. The situation suddenly totally spun out of control when Jade and Beck began yelling at each other and that was the point where Jade realized.

"I'm not happy with our relationship!"

Talk about being a jerk.

The look on Jade's face was just… so horrible. She was so totally taken off guard. It broke my heart. Let me just tell you… we didn't finish that game show.

I didn't get the chance to talk to her anymore and the day after she was way too busy fighting with Beck. I had been hesitant when the others had wanted to play cards at my house without telling Beck and Jade – which I could understand on one side. Cat always fainted and Robbie cried – but I eventually agreed and so we were sitting around my table playing cards, when the doorbell suddenly rang.

Beck and Jade were standing on the other side.

Again they fought. Again it escalated.

Although this time… it was finally over. When Jade told Beck that they'd be over if would she get to ten and he wouldn't be out there with her, and Beck ended up not opening the door when Jade _did_ get to ten…

We heard her car roaring to life and were silent until it was certain she was not coming back anymore. I would have thought a break up would shake you up a little bit more. But all Beck said was "Let's play some cards."

Let's play some cards? Really?

No one cared how Jade was feeling. Not Beck. Not even Cat. But what kind of friend would I be if I didn't check up on her? A crappy one. So I left, ignoring the questions that followed from everybody around the poker table, took the bus and went to Jade's house, in hopes that she went straight home from my place.

I was lucky.

A worried Ms. Halliwell opened the door and immediately sent me up to Jade's room, telling me she stormed in without a word and locked her door, refusing to let her in. After taking a deep breath, I gently knocked on her door. "Just _go_," I heard her yell from inside, her voice shaking slightly.

I knocked again, leaning my head close to the dark wood. "Jade," I called out timidly, "It's me."

Only seconds passed before I heard footsteps. I sucked in a breath when the door swung open and my heart broke for her all over again as dark streaks of mascara ran down her pale cheeks and watery, broken eyes stared back at me. She pulled me into her room and closed her door before she fell into me and completely let go. I lowered us both to the floor without letting go of her, tightening my grip around her. I felt her tears against my neck, heard the sobs that shook her body. I don't know how long we sat there, on the floor with her in my arms, but that really wasn't important. When her sobs finally subsided, I whispered her name against her hair. "Jade?"

"What?"

I paused before I quietly asked, "What happened with the dolphin?"

She choked out a low laugh.

It was a wonderful sound.


	7. Seven

"Why did you come here?"

After an entire hour of dead silence (aside from the occasional ringing of my phone before I turned it off completely) the quiet voice of the sad girl lying on the bed next to me almost startled me. When I turned to look at her, I found her staring at the ceiling. "What kind of question is that?"

"What kind of answer is that?"

I sighed. "There was no other option for me. I was worried about you. I thought you might… need me."

I suddenly realized what I had said and held my breath as I waited for a reaction. Jade wasn't really good in admitting that she needed someone. It was one of the things I learned about her the past few weeks. Needing someone equaled being weak in Jade's eyes and Jade wasn't weak. My heart flipped but my fear that she would throw me out quickly flew out of the window, when Jade's quiet voice cut through the silence once again. "I do need you."

The rush I felt at those few, simple words was indescribable and it probably shouldn't have made me so happy. Those were just words and while I knew that Jade had meant them (she wouldn't have said them if she didn't) I knew that they weren't making her heart flutter, they weren't causing her to feel on top of the world. But that was what they did to me.

She looked over at me. "Did he say anything after I left?"

_Let's play some cards._ I bit my lip. I couldn't tell her that. All it would do was add salt to the wound and that was the last thing Jade needed. I shook my head and had to watch deep disappointment flash across her tear-streaked face. "He… I don't think he felt like talking. I'm sure he would have… said something otherwise." Jade nodded – although I was sure she was far from convinced by my words – and looked back up at the ceiling, sighing after another long round of silence. "Hey Tori." I craned my neck toward her. "Tell me a joke."

"A joke?"

"Yeah."

Okay, so a joke… It was quiet for a couple of minutes as I thought of one, and came up with the probably worst and unfunniest joke ever. "Knock Knock."

"Who's there?"

"Knock Knock."

Her eyebrows dug down in confusion. "…Who's there?"

"Britney Spears."

"Britney Spears who?"

"Oops, I did it again!"

I tried to smile as Jade looked at me, her lips parting and corners of her mouth lifting up. Before I could apologize for the crappy joke she burst out laughing. "That was so bad!"

I groaned, my eyes squeezing shut. "I know."

But no matter how bad the joke was it served its purpose. It made her laugh. "Tell me another one," she said after she calmed down and I found myself telling her every joke I could think of – _bad_ ones. But it made Jade laugh, if it was because she really found them funny or she just welcomed the distraction didn't really matter.

"Okay, um… Why did the banana go to the hospital?"

Her fluid blue eyes looked into mine. "Why?"

"It wasn't peeling very well."

She chuckled, shaking her head. "That one isn't so bad." She turned her eyes back to the ceiling before closing them. But I welcomed that as I caught myself smiling dopily at the soft curve Jade's lips formed, the streaks of dry tears on her pale cheeks the only reminder of her sadness. A long sigh escaped those lips. "I can't believe I'm lying here with you, letting you tell me stupid jokes."

"_Letting _me? You asked for it!"

She pushed out a curt laugh and got ready to retort something when the buzzing of her phone made her freeze. Her eyes snapped open, the soft smile fell. I stayed silent as I watched her reach over my body to pull her phone out of her bag. Her face stayed blank as she looked at the bright screen. "It's Cat," she told me, her front pressed against my side and arm resting across my stomach as she read the text from the redhead. I bit my lip, my eyes staying glued to her face when Jade began to type in a reply. While releasing a quiet breath, she let her phone tumble back into her bag before she resumed her previous position next to me.

After a moment of silence I quietly asked "What did she want?"

"Ask if I was okay."

Well, a little late for that. It's been over two hours since Jade had left my house and just _now_ Cat started to worry? Although… this was Cat. She probably didn't even understand the entire thing. "What did you say?"

"That I'm fine."

And I almost desperately wanted to believe that. That she was fine without Beck, that she was maybe even fine because of _me_. But I knew that she hadn't meant it. One look at her face told me that she hadn't. It was something to tell Cat so that she would stop bothering her. Jade wasn't fine.

Not without Beck. And surely not because of me.

_**-OS&SD-**_

It had been rough three weeks. Everyone – me included – thought that Beck and Jade would get back together after a day or two, maybe even after a week, but much to everyone's surprise… they didn't. Not that I was complaining. It meant that Jade spent more time with me and honestly… I never understood what exactly Jade saw in Beck, aside from his looks. He was nice, yeah, funny sometimes. But he was so… emotionless. So robotic and… indifferent. But he must have _something_, seeing as Jade fell in love with him and she still wasn't completely over the break up yet, as much as she wanted me and everyone else to believe that. She still refused to really talk to Beck, or for that matter even _look_ at him, other for some really nasty glares. Beck… I don't know. He was always so… nonchalant about everything, I really couldn't figure out if he regretted breaking up with Jade (although he really should). But with every day that passed and Jade wasn't with Beck, she got more used to it. She wasn't _over_ it, by far she wasn't, she still loved him, but she got there. With the help of me… and Cat. As mad as I was at her after she didn't bother to look if Jade was okay after Beck broke up with her – after all, that was kind of the job of a best friend – I couldn't be mad at her forever, especially since Jade seemed to not care about Cat's lack of presence at all. Also… how could _anyone_ stay mad at Cat? That girl was sweeter than sugar. So us three spent the majority of our time together, sometimes even joined by Trina, much to the dismay of Jade.

Today though, it was only me, Jade and Cat.

"I'm so excited! This is going to be the best picnic ever!" I laughed at the adorable redhead as she threw her left arm around my shoulders and her right arm around Jade's. "We're hanging out together," she exclaimed happily and attempted to pull us both into a hug.

"NO!" I flinched and Cat's arm immediately dropped from Jade but Jade's short outburst did nothing to dampen the redhead's mood. Cat squealed, Jade sighed irritably and I smiled. With her usual scowl in place Jade took off her sunglasses and glanced over at me. "_Why_ did I agree to make a _picnic_ with you two idiots?"

"_Because_ it wouldn't be the same without our third idiot."

I smirked at the eye roll I received before I turned to the plastic containers Cat and I had brought. While Cat and I began to place the sandwiches, fruits and cupcakes onto paper plates, Jade settled for watching us, not lifting a finger but the minute Cat opened the box with brownies Jade's hand shot out. I smiled as Jade began to devour the brownie, even letting out a satisfied hum. Cat giggled before thrusting one of the baked goods into my hands. "Here! Try one too!"

Cat's brownies? They're heaven. No, seriously! I've never had such a delicious brownie in my entire life, ugh, I couldn't get enough of them. Actually, everything Cat baked was complete and utter 'food heaven'. If she ever decided that singing and acting wasn't it for her, she should just open a bakery. After we ate, the majority of the containers empty, I laid down flat on my back on the checkered picnic blanket, my hand serving my eyes as a shield from the bright sun. I absentmindedly watched Jade's fingers pick at the bright green grass blades by her feet while I only listened with half an ear to Cat telling another one of her stories about her brother. But when a loud gasp sounded, both Jade and I turned to look at our small friend.

"Oh, look! A butterfly! Look how pretty it is!" Cat scrambled to her knees to take a closer look at the butterfly flying by, her face glowing with happiness. I chuckled. What a happy world it would be if everyone would have just a sprinkle of Cat's appreciation for the little things in life. My gaze shifted almost involuntarily to Jade who rolled her eyes at the redhead's antics. She slipped her sunglasses back on, shuffled around on the picnic blanket, lowered her upper body and placed her head on my stomach. I raised my eyebrows in wonderment and curiosity at the public display – of, dare I say it? Affection? – but didn't acknowledge it any further. "Do you guys know if-" I had to bite the inside of my lip to keep my smile hidden when Cat snapped her head towards us, immediately becoming silent when her eyes took in Jade's position. She blinked confusedly, opened her mouth but snapped it shut almost a second later.

"Do we know what, Cat?"

Big brown eyes flew up to me, even though Jade was the one who asked the question. "I um… I forgot."

As Cat's eyes flicked back down to Jade, her forehead creasing, I began to wonder what exactly she was thinking right now. After a while of wrecking my brain, my mind still came up completely blank and I decided to just let it be, feeling almost relieved when Cat's attention strayed away from us only a minute later when she heard a dog barking in the distance. Jade was completely oblivious to her best friend's obvious confusion and after Cat had run off to get herself some ice-cream from a nearby stand, Jade lifted her hand and pulled her sunglasses down enough so she could peer over them. Our eyes met as I awkwardly craned my head to look down at her.

"What?" She asked after I kept staring at her without saying anything.

"Nothing."

Without a word she lifted her head from my stomach but I didn't even had enough time to miss her being so close to me as she twisted her body so that her upper half was almost completely pressing against mine. The fingers of her left hand barely grazed against my arm from where her forearm supported her weight. I took a deep breath and really, _really_ hoped that she wouldn't notice how much her… _closeness_ actually affected me. My lungs were almost giving out, my bones seemed to burn wherever Jade touched me and my heart rate dramatically increased. But Jade's face stayed nonchalant as if this was the most normal position to be in. "I guess I need to thank you," she said hesitantly while I could see her eyes beneath her sunglasses flicking all over my face without meeting mine.

Inhaling a short breath of air I asked, "For what?" and inwardly cringed at the squeakiness of my voice.

"For being there for me through the whole Beck thing." It ended up coming out more as a question than anything else and Jade blinked confusedly. She lifted her gaze from somewhere by my cheek and met my eyes. "I don't know. I just felt like I needed to thank you."

"It's- You- You don't need to thank me for anything," I said, wetting my lips and trying to shift my body a little, "You're my friend, it's kind of my duty to… to help- to help you…" Jade's fingers had suddenly started to play with a strand of my hair and- she just- she shouldn't do this, this wasn't how I pictured friends to act and _God_, she was driving me insane!

"Jade?" Her eyes watched as her fingers curled my hair around and around and around…

"Hm?" For a moment, everything disappeared. I heard my heart in my ears, felt it pulsing through my whole body and only saw… her lips. Her lips and- No, God Tori, stop!

"I'm- Where's Cat?"

Still fixated on my hair, Jade muttered, "Getting ice cream."

"But she has been… gone for a while." I released a slow breath, trying to keep my eyes from moving downward again, "Maybe she got lost or something."

"In the park?" She paused, then her finger stopped twirling my hair and a chuckle rumbled against my chest. "Yeah, she probably got lost."

Before I knew it she was off of me and I was finally able to take in a gulp of fresh air. But I still smelled her perfume, still felt her body against mine even though she was sitting up next to me, her eyes wandering through the park in search for Cat. "She's playing with a small dog," Jade pointed out while lifting her sunglasses, "Over there."

I looked to where she was pointing, swallowing harshly when I saw Cat being completely absorbed into a little white dog with a yellow tennis ball in his snout, giggling wildly when the dog let the ball drop into her hands. "I'll go get her," Jade said sighing and got to her feet, "And then we can pack up and go. Okay?"

I sat up, smiling up at her. "Yeah." I watched her go with my heart still pounding, my smile slipping and my brain whirling with images of Jade's lips and her eyes-

With a groan I closed my eyes and let my head fall into my hands.

_Holy cow._


	8. Eight

"_Jade, I have a question for you."_

"_Then ask your question."_

"_Will you marry me?"_

_The red pen in Jade's hand stilled and clear blue eyes lifted from the piece of paper. Her eyebrows tugged down as she questioningly tilted her head at an expectant Tori. "Why do you want to marry me?"_

"_Because you're my best friend and my daddy told me that you're supposed to marry someone you really, really love."_

_Jade shook her head. "We're too young to get married, Tori."_

"_Oh." Tori let her head sink in disappointment before her eyes lit up and she looked back up at Jade. "When we're old enough… will you marry me then?"_

_Jade looked at her for a short moment before she quickly shrugged her shoulders and looked back down at her drawing. "Sure. Why not."_

I chuckled at the memory of my 'proposal' to Jade. Being about… nine or ten I really had meant it, believe it or not. I wanted to marry her. There was really no one other I could picture living in a big house with our Golden Retriever I had wanted us to most definitely have, named Sparky. I had my future mapped out the way I wanted, already at such a young age, even though I knew the "proper" thing was getting married to a guy because… well, because it seemed like everyone thought that was the _right_ thing. But for me it had always been Jade. Jade _was_ my _right_ thing. She was the one I always wanted to get married to. And… she's still my right thing.

But I never knew if Jade saw the same future as me. She's so confusing, she always was, really. She could be so cryptic at times and… closed off while she was totally open the next second. But I like that. I love that she's not easy to figure out. It's intriguing and makes me want to fight to let her know that she doesn't need a shield with me, that she'll never have to hide anything from me. It was a hard task, most definitely, but the achievements I'd get at the end were definitely more than rewarding.

I sighed. Was today an achievement? For the first time she let others see that she felt comfortable around me, that she _did _like me. And then that thing she did! I didn't know that playing with my hair could bring me out of concept _so much_ but Jade managed to do just that. I wish I could have properly seen her eyes, without those sunglasses, maybe then I would have seen what she was feeling, thinking, wanting. I knew what I had wanted. More than ever. And I almost threw everything overboard and connected our lips. She had been so close to me that I would have just had to lift my head and…

It was dangerous. So, _so_ dangerous. I needed to get a hold of myself, no matter how much I wanted to let go. Jade was still hurting from her break up with Beck and as far as I knew, I was still _only_ her friend, without her having romantic feelings for me whatsoever.

_KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!_

I jumped, almost falling off of my bed, and fearfully looked over to my window where the sound came from. When I saw what, or better _who_ had managed to almost scare the pee out of me, I lowered the blanket from my chin with a relieved sigh. Way to give me a heart attack. I got out of bed, smiling at the smirking face that looked back at me and opened the window to find Jade standing on a ladder I remembered her using a couple of years back.

"Well hello, Ms. Vega."

I laughed and took her outstretched hand to help her into my room. "Hi! What are you doing here?" Her boots made a soft thump against the floor as she jumped down the windowsill, brushing her hands down her leather jacket. "I couldn't sleep," she told me simply as I closed the window. "Also, I was just _yearning_ for your company."

I chuckled, shook my head and turned around to face her. "And you couldn't have just texted me and told me to open the door for you? You almost gave me a heart attack."

"Someone's being melodramatic," she said with a sigh before she plopped down on my bed.

"I'm not! I nearly died of fear!"

Chuckling, Jade shook her head at me. A surprised gasp rushed out of my mouth when Jade's hand wrapped around my wrist and yanked me onto the bed next to her. "Hm," she hummed thoughtfully as she looked down at my arm, where her thumb gently rested against the pulse point of my wrist, "You still have a pulse. I think you're good."

With a smirk she let go of me, kicked off her boots and lay down in my bed with her hands folded on top of her stomach. I was surprised that she hadn't even noticed, or cared, for how fast my pulse must have puckered against her hand. I took a deep breath, then cleared my throat before I scrambled onto my bed and lay down on my side, facing her. "So… is there a reason why you're here? Or did you just _miss _me?"

I couldn't help but grin teasingly at her. Jade rolled her eyes. "Just wanted to see how you were. You were acting kinda strange after we left the park." I bit my lip as she curiously glanced over at me. "What was going on?"

After Jade came back with Cat in tow earlier that day, we packed up our things while Cat babbled on and on about the cute dog she had played with. I stayed silent, just smiling when the redhead looked at me with big excited eyes while Jade eventually told her to shut her mouth. My eyes were doing their best to avoid looking at Jade, for my heart still hadn't recovered from the situation with her lying almost on top of me, so close and… reachable. I knew that Jade noticed that I was trying to avoid her as much as I could, she must have, but I hoped she would let it slide. So much for that. "I just… I was in a bad mood."

Jade's eyebrow lifted in suspicion. "Bad mood?" I nodded my head to which she pushed out an unbelieving breath. "That's a lie."

My eyes widened. "No! No, it's not! It's not a…" But I knew Jade knew that I was lying and pretending that that wasn't the case would bring me nowhere. I sighed, trying to put my acting skills to use. "You're right, it's a lie. I just… I mean, you were… a little sloppy with hiding the fact that… you actually like me… Cat noticed something, I think."

"Oh please," she scoffed, "It's Cat." She stopped there, as if that was explanation enough before she hesitantly added, "And even _if_… she noticed something… then… it's okay too."

"I- Really?"

"Yeah…"

Maybe I was imagining it, maybe I really _was_ a little too tired, but I could have sworn there was a light blush on Jade's cheeks. Smiling, I looked at my comforter while a comfortable silence enveloped us both. Maybe I _had_ a chance with her. You know, as _more _than friends. But my smile fell as soon as I thought about it. Her heart was still occupied. I looked up and stared at her for a moment while I debated if it was okay for me to ask her something about Beck before I decided that I should just go for it. "Can I ask you something?"

"You just did."

Ignoring her remark, I softly asked, "What was it about Beck that made you fall in love with him?"

I wanted to take the question back as soon as Jade's head twisted toward me and her hard eyes glared at me. "Why do you want to know?"

"I-I just… Sorry."

Jade sighed and closed her eyes for a moment before she opened them again and looked into mine. "I fell in love with him because… he was this amazing guy who made me laugh and accepted me for who I am. I don't know what exactly…" She trailed off with a furrowed brow before sighing and shaking her head. "He's warm and I feel comfortable around him." As if to maintain at least a pretense of her usual harshness she sharply added, "Is that answer enough?"

I nodded my head. "Yes."

Warm and comfortable… was that all? I don't feel like that when I'm around Jade. I mean, sure, I'm comfortable too when I'm around her but… it was so much more than that. My entire body was on overdrive when she was near, my heart raced and jumped and did flips in my chest. Breathing got difficult and everything I could think about was her. "I'm going to sleep here tonight," she suddenly stated without giving me any room to object. Not that I wanted to anyway.

"Okay."

We didn't talk anymore. We just lay next to each other, with Jade looking up at the ceiling and me looking at Jade. After a long while I felt my eyes droop shut, my mind getting fuzzy. Only when I felt the bed next to me move I tiredly opened my eyes again and saw Jade sitting up, dropping her leather jacket to the floor. I let out a quiet sigh when she pulled the blanket over both of us. Quietly, she shifted her body to her side, facing me just as my eyes fell shut again.

I was almost asleep when I felt something tickling the side of my face which caused me to open my eyes. Just like earlier today Jade had reached out to play with my hair but this time, I could see how gentle her eyes really were, see the way my hair almost mesmerized her. She eventually noticed that I was watching her, took a deep breath and shuffled closer to me so that not even a pillow could have fitted between us. "Go to sleep, Tori," she whispered while her hand ran through my hair, just once, before it fell between our bodies and my eyes fluttered shut.

But I didn't go to sleep.

I could hear Jade's breathing, every deep inhale and every hitch and I _knew_ if I'd just open my eyes I would probably catch her staring at me. Could she hear my heartbeat? I swallowed before I slowly slid my hand into the narrow space between Jade and I until I could feel my fingers brushing against the soft skin of Jade's palm. I blushed and bit my tongue while I willed my eyes to stay shut, getting ready to pull my hand back again when I felt Jade move. The pillow her head was lying on rustled softly, then, her fingers wound around mine. "Tori," she softly whispered with a questioning tone in her voice.

"Yes?"

She was quiet for a moment before she asked in that same whisper, "Do you want to know a secret?"

My lips curved but I kept my eyes shut. "I'd love to."

"It's a secret though," she reminded me quietly, while her hand gave mine a squeeze, "You can't tell anyone. You have to keep it."

"I'll keep it. I promise."

I felt more than I heard her let out a deep breath. "When I saw you at the Big Showcase… I was actually insanely proud of you."

My eyes immediately snapped open, defying sleep. My breath stumbled when blue eyes glittered at me, just like real stars and for a short moment I wondered if I was dreaming and this wasn't actually real at all. I breathed out a long, awkwardly shaky breath. "Really?"

She smiled, such a soft smile that always manages to kill me, and nodded her head. I grinned and I was sure I blushed deeply at her compliment. "You were incredible. Everyone fell in love with you."

I blushed again, my eyes leaving Jade's to hide the effect her words, her _everything_ had on me. Jade's hand suddenly let go of mine and found its way into my hair again, although I almost didn't realize because, man, I really was tired. My eyes closed, the gentle way Jade's fingers were stroking my hair making it easy for sleep to come. But before sleep could take me in completely, I heard Jade's voice once again. "You wanna know another secret?"

I barely even registered her words but managed to mumble out a quiet 'yes'.

"_I fell in love with you too_."

* * *

_A/N: Shorter one this time but I think it makes you happy ;)  
_

_ wikster: I feel exactly the same! I actually liked Beck in season 1 and I adore Avan but I feel like especially in season 3 they didn't really try with his character at all and just made him a cocky and for me unlikeable character. Especially how he acts toward Jade, it's just... ugh, it makes me so angry._


	9. Nine

"Tori… Tori. Tori!"

Something harshly smacked against my face and instantly, I was awake. "Ouch!" I cracked my eyes open, still so full of sleep, removed the pillow from my face and threw it at my sister who stood next to my bed with her arms crossed. She easily dodged it, continuing to stare at me with an annoyed expression. "You overslept! Hurry up, I'm not going to tolerate you making me late!"

Even though the fact that I overslept made the warning bells in my head go off, I groaned, took a good look around my room and closed my eyes again while trying to rub the sleep out of my face. "Where's Jade?"

"What?"

I opened my eyes and sat up. "Jade. She came over last night. Is she gone?"

"She came over last night? When? I didn't hear the doorbell." She only needed a second to figure out how Jade came in yesterday. Quickly glancing toward my window, one of her eyebrows lifted before she tsk'd, shook her head and turned back to me. "I don't think mom and dad would like that. I mean, I guess it was still okay when you guys were younger but it's kinda different now."

"She's still _Jade_," I told her dismissively and got out of my bed, walking over to my closet to take out clothes for the day. "Mom and dad know her. It's no big deal." There wasn't anything about Jade they had to fear. They knew her and it had never been a problem when Jade came over late at night when we were younger, through the window or the door, that never mattered. I didn't see why it should matter now.

"I think it would be a big deal if they knew you have the hots for her." As if she just hit me across the back of my head with a hammer, I suddenly felt dizzy, my eyes widening. How did she _know _that? Was I that obvious? My fingers dug into the fabric of the jeans I held in my hand while I slowly turned around, still wide eyed, finding Trina looking as bored as ever, looking at her nails.

"Wh-What did you say?"

Her eyes moved from her nails to me and it took her a second to realize what I had asked. But then she furrowed her eyebrows and her lips formed a smile of pure amusement. "Come on, Tori. You _so_ like her."

"I-" Oh please. There really was no denying. "But how…"

"I'm your sister. I know you."

I was sure a luminous blush colored my face and neck right about now, Trina's knowing smile and wink making my skin feel even warmer. As she turned to walk out of my room she called over her shoulder, "But stop fantasizing about Jade and get ready now. I won't hesitate to go without you," before she walked out and gently closed the door behind her.

Despite Trina's threat to go without me – and I knew it was by all means not an empty threat – I sank down on my bed with a deep sigh, my tight grip on my jeans lessening. I wondered why Jade had left, _when_ she had left. Right after I fell asleep? In the middle of the night? At the crack of dawn? And did she leave through the window or did she take the door? Again I sighed. I let myself fall back on my bed, ignoring the time limit of ten minutes Trina shouted from downstairs, and thought back to what Trina had said. I really hoped my feelings for Jade weren't that obvious but… what if they were? What if it was like… a really bad kept secret? Oh my God, what if everybody knew and-

Wait.

_Secret_.

Why did I have a feeling I forgot something?

A secret… I slowly sat back up again as I tried to remember what I could have forgotten. It was something about a secret, I knew that much… but what could it-

"_I fell in love with you too."_

_..._

Oh my _God_!

_**-OS&SD-**_

The tingling and burning heat I felt in my chest didn't leave, no, only intensified when I burst through the huge, glassy double doors of Hollywood Arts. After my brain had finally began working and I remembered yesterday night, I was up and dressed and completely ready in less than eight minutes and even rushed out of the door before Trina even had her shoes on. She had looked at me weirdly when I practically bounced on the spot by the passenger side of her car as I waited for her to finally push the little button that would let me into the car. That weird but by no means unpleasant tingling that took a hold of my entire body kept me on the edge of my seat as I asked my sister if she couldn't drive a little bit faster. Again she had shot me a confused look and asked what was going on but I couldn't even think about answering her without blurting out, "Jade loves me!", so I settled for pressing my lips together as tightly as I could.

Now, I was barely aware of Trina having long ago stopped trying to keep up with my fast pace and instead focused on one thing only: finding Jade. The obvious place for her to be on a morning would be her locker so that's where I went first thing. And there she was. Taking a long sip from her coffee while she stood in front of her open locker, eyes cast downward at a script in her hands. Before I could walk up to her however, I stopped myself.

What the heck would I say?

_Maybe that I'm in love with her too_. That was my first thought. But wouldn't that be a little too obtrusive?

_I could just ignore that she ever said anything and wait for her to say something. _But what if she had the same thought? Then we would never get anywhere because we're both too cowardly to say something.

_Just casually slip it into a conversation._ That would be a good plan… but wait… I couldn't possibly _casually_ mention something like that. This was important. Not… _casual_.

_Just go over there, you idiot!_ So then. I was just going to let it come to me. Improvise. I took a deep breath before I continued my way over to Jade, teeth biting the inside of my bottom lip while I was almost positive that my heart would jump out of my chest at any second. When I was only three or four steps away from her Jade's eyes lifted from the script in her hand and immediately locked on mine. While her face stayed nonchalant, I felt the corners of my lips curve upward at their own accords. "Hey! Good morning."

She only nodded in response before she let her eyes drop to her script again, bringing her cup of coffee to her lips. "So… I thought you'd still be there when I woke up…"

I let the sentence dangle between us which caused Jade to glance up at me again. A light smirk tugged at her lips. "Did you now?"

I smiled back at her, my heart fluttering. "Yeah, I did. Why did you leave? I thought you wanted to spend the night."

"I did spend the night," she told me and turned to her locker to put the script away, "I left really early. I didn't want my mom to worry and I needed to get to school early today because of this stupid play."

"What play?"

She let out an aggravated sigh. "Mr. Gradsteen is putting on a play of one of his former students and asked me to audition for it."

"Well… but that's good… isn't it?"

"I guess. I just hate the play though." She flung her locker door shut, leaned her shoulder against the small wall next to her locker and rolled her eyes. "It's all about love, love, love, love. Ugh, it's making me sick!"

My smile faltered a little as I watched her take another sip from her cup, looking off to the side. I tightly grabbed on to the strap of my bag before I said, "Oh. Well… I- I wanted to talk to you about… something."

She turned back to me, her eyebrows rising in question. I cleared my throat, my eyebrows furrowing as my heart picked up speed again. "I, um… about last night. About that," I paused, moistened my lips and worriedly looked at her when I almost whispered, "_secret_."

Jade simply stared at me, still so annoyingly nonchalant while I almost died on the spot. When I didn't say anything else, I really couldn't, she sighed and used her left middle and ring finger to slowly run over the curve of her eyebrow. "Listen Tori… what I said was true-"

Everything inside of me seemed to explode in happiness-

"You really were incredible at the Big Showcase."

-only to fall as a giant puddle of disappointment into the pit of my stomach. "You're always incredible, and believe me this is awfully hard for me to say. I don't compliment people, like _ever, _especially people who could be a serious threat for me… but you're Tori so there's kind of an exception for you." I tried to interrupt her, tell her that I wasn't really talking about that but she kept talking. "So you can call yourself lucky."

A smirk once again danced across her lips and her eyes twinkled at me. "Um, well that's… very flattering and all but..." I looked to my feet for a second before I looked back up at Jade. "But… that's not what I meant," I said with an uncomfortable laugh to which she just frowned at me.

"What did you mean then?"

"The… the other one."

"The other one? The other one what?"

I sighed, taking a step closer to her. "The other secret."

Her confusion only grew. "What other secret? There was no other secret."

"Yes," I said slowly, trying to figure out what was going on with her, "There was." I saw her jaw clench slightly, the confusion blown away from her face, being replaced with… something I couldn't put my finger on. Jade pushed herself off of the wall, took a deep breath and shifted from her left foot to her right. I patiently waited for her to say something, which she did, after only a couple seconds of silence. The look on her face disappeared again and her usual frown took over. "I don't know what you mean. There _was_ no other secret."

Her insistent tone confused me to no end. My eyes flicked down to her coffee cup for a second, seeing her fingers flex tightly around the plastic cup, before I looked back into her eyes, my eyebrows creasing. "Are you… Are you serious?"

She shrugged nonchalantly. "You must have dreamed it."

I must have looked so stupid as I stood in front of her, gaping. I _hadn't_ dreamed it, I _know_ I hadn't. I could still hear Jade's voice whispering it to me. I must have fallen asleep right after but I hadn't dreamed it. It was impossible. Why was she denying it? It was true, her voice had been so soft and… distant and… oh my God. Had I dreamed it? All color drained from my face when I realized that it very well could be a possibility. Maybe the words I remembered this morning weren't real, but from a dream I had. I suddenly felt my lungs squeezing in on themselves when I realized how close I had been to completely humiliating myself in front of Jade, maybe even destroying our friendship just because I couldn't distinguish a dream from reality. "Uh, I gotta go now!"

I turned, without waiting for a response. Oh my God, I'm so _stupid_! Before I could reach my own locker however I felt someone grip my wrist before I got spun around. I came face to face with Jade, who looked at me with her eyes slightly squinting. "What was your dream about?"

"I… I don't remember anymore."

"You were remembering just a second ago," she pointed out and pulled at my wrist to make me come a little closer, "Was it a _good_ dream?"

"I…" I took a step closer; I didn't even care that we were standing in the middle of the school hallway, way closer than "non-friends" should stand by each other.

"Was it… a good dream, Tori?" Jade asked again, her eyes uncertain, holding fear and anxiety. She pushed out a light breath, her grip on my wrist tightening as my eyes dropped to her lips and before I knew what I was doing, I was starting to lean in. And call me crazy, but God, Jade did too.

"Hey chicas!"

We jumped away from each other as fast as we could. In a matter of seconds Jade's vulnerability completely disappeared and a bone shattering glare was sent in Andre's direction. "_What_?" she pushed through her teeth, making me take in a deep breath. Jade could be _incredibly_ scary. Andre's smile slipped, eyebrows shooting up.

"I just said 'Hey'," he defended himself smoothly, although I could see a tiny sliver of panic in his face, "No need to be so ganky."

My eyes traveled back to Jade. Her eyes rolled, her mouth spit out a long breath before muttering out a, "Whatever," while she pushed past Andre and disappeared without a glance back.

"Well, that girl's in a mood." I kept my eyes on the door Jade disappeared through. What was that? I thought… and the dream and… was it a dream now or not?! "Tori?"

"Huh?"

"Are you okay?"

I blinked and shook my head then finally gave Andre my attention. "I'm just… I'm fine." He looked unconvinced but I really couldn't deal with any sorts of questions right now, especially since I had a million questions of my own and no answers at all. So I left before he could ask or say anything else, my mind blank in all of my classes aside from one thing.

Jade.


	10. Ten

"_Have you ever kissed a boy?"_

_Eleven-year old Jade released a long breath before she answered. "No. And I don't want to. Why are you asking?"_

_Tori shrugged her shoulders, reaching for a fry from her plate. "I don't know, it just seems like everyone makes a big deal out of… kissing. And just boys in general."_

"_Well," Jade started but paused to take a sip from her milkshake, "They're stupid."_

"_Boys?"_

"_They too. But I mean those boy-crazy girls. What's so special about 'em? I don't want to kiss them, I have better things to do."_

_Tori slowly nodded. She guessed Jade was right. But she was the first girl she heard who talked about boys like that. The other girls in her class were always giggling when a boy was talking to them and she wondered why she herself didn't feel like that. It was stupid to giggle when someone talked to you. You're supposed to be _talking_ not _giggling_. "Have you?"_

_With a shake of her head, Tori answered Jade's question, causing the pale girl to nod and focus her attention on the French fries standing in the middle of the table. After a moment of hesitation and her teeth heavily biting her lip, Tori cleared her throat and leaned forward a bit. "What about a girl?"_

_Jade frowned. "A girl?"_

"_Have you ever," Tori's voice dropped to a whisper, "kissed a girl?"_

"_No, I haven't. I don't want to either. It's the same with boys. I have better things to do."_

"_Huh." A small wave of unease rushed through her as well as a twinge of excitement when she thought about her first kiss. How long would it be till she'd get it? Where would it be? With _who_ would it be? And while she watched Jade from across the table, she couldn't help but wish… that maybe she would change her mind. At least about kissing a girl. _

Stupid, stupid Andre! As much as I love him, it was just unacceptable! Hadn't it been for him, _who _knew what would have happened between me and Jade. Oh right, I know! We would have kissed! And I _knew_ it hadn't been a dream, I _knew _it! She wouldn't have leaned in, she wouldn't have been so adamant on knowing if it was a "good dream" or not. God, this girl was driving me insane, slowly but steadily. I just hoped I wouldn't end up in a mental institution.

Jade hadn't asked about "my dream" again. She also pretended as if the moment in the hallway had never happened. I hadn't mentioned it either. Instead, I found myself observing every little thing Jade did in my presence. Fleeting touches. Lingering glances. Soft smiles. And she wanted me to believe that what I remembered was just a dream? I couldn't understand why she would want me to think that.

My train of thought was interrupted when I saw a flash of red approaching me. "Hey Cat!" But as soon as I saw her face, looking so blank and… wrong without her usual smile, I felt my forehead crease with worry. "What's wrong?"

She pushed out a long sigh and plopped down on a seat across from me in a very unlike Cat fashion, eyes kept down and fingers playing with a strand of her bright red hair. "Nothing. I'm fine."

"Come on. I see something's wrong. What's up? Tell good ol' Tori."

When she glanced up at me I got a glimpse of a small smile hushing over her face before it got replaced by her sad frown again. "I'm sad."

I pushed my salad to the side and put my arms on the table, leaning forward. "Why are you sad?"

Another deep sigh. "I'm all alone this entire week," she started to explain, her eyes kept on the blue table, "My brother needed to go to the special hospital again and my parents have to stay there with him. But because of school I couldn't go with them, I didn't want to anyway, but now I'm all alone."

"And you don't like being alone?" With both of my parents not home a lot of the time, both having demanding jobs, I was able to empathize with Cat. It didn't bother me so much, sometimes I liked the time I had for myself and even if I didn't, there was still Trina. But Cat was really _all alone_ and she didn't seem like a person who would ever enjoy being by herself.

"No. I really don't like it."

A sympathetic smile made its way onto my mouth as I thought of a way to cheer the small girl up. My face brightened when an idea popped into my head. "Hey! Why don't you stay at my place for the rest of the week?"

Cat's eyes lifted from the table, uncertain. "But… are you sure?"

"Yeah. My parents won't mind, I'm sure."

Almost a feeling of relief swept over me when finally, a bright genuine smile appeared and Cat sat up straight. "I'd really like to stay with you," she said excitedly and I smiled too, because Cat's joy was just intoxicating.

"Okay! And what about, since the school lets out early today because of the teacher's conference, we do a movie night. Or… afternoon." Cat gasped, then clapped her hands a couple of times.

"Oooh yay! Can I choose what movies we'll be watching?"

I laughed. "Sure."

"That's so exciting! Oh! We should invite Jade! Can we invite Jade?"

I hesitated for just a moment before I told her that of course, we could invite her, and that I would make sure to ask her later. Cat's mood instantly brightened and she immediately began babbling about everything that came to her mind. I listened, nodding and smiling here and there, while I began eating my salad. After a couple of minutes, Cat's words had become less and when she grew completely quiet, I looked up at her. Cat was staring at me with a bright grin, her tongue poking out from between her teeth. I smiled at the adorable sight and shot her a curious look. "What?" I asked with a soft laugh. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

She giggled cutely. "I'm just really happy, that's all." Another giggle escaped her mouth and I put my fork down, chuckling at her behavior. "Well, what are you so happy about?"

She suddenly became completely quiet. My lips formed an amused smile when she first looked over her right, then over her left shoulder. "Because of you and Jade!" Her voice quivered with excitement and I could see it took a great deal of effort for her to manage to keep her voice low. "I'm so happy you two get along!"

I picked my fork back up and scooped up some salad. "I am too," I told her with a probably way too big smile, which faltered as soon as I thought back to last week.

"I think she's lying."

I frowned in confusion and looked back up. "Jade?" Cat nodded. "Lying about what?"

"That she doesn't like you very much. I think that's a lie. I mean, if she doesn't like you then why does she hang out with you so often? That doesn't make any sense! Right?"

"Right…"

"Also she touches you a lot. And she doesn't hit or yell at you when you touch her. I think that's a sign that she likes you."

Yeah. She liked me, alright. But was that all? Was it just _like_? Oh man, this was confusing me so much. I was sure it wasn't just like but… who really knew with Jade. She was like one of those Rubik's cubes. You could turn and turn but eventually… you just make everything even worse.

_**-OS&SD-**_

"No."

"Why not?"

The boy in front of us quickly scurried out of the way when Jade shot him one of her menacing glares, before she returned her eyes back to look straight ahead, gaze locked on her car."'Cause! I'm not going to act all crazy with you two morons in your stupid McNugget Show."

"The Funny Nugget Show," Tori corrected, "And we won't do anything like that. We'll just try to cheer Cat up a little. We won't even have to have a sleepover! Just a girl's night! Girl's… afternoon, I mean." When we reached Jade's car, my hand pressed against Jade's door to keep her from opening it, which earned me an annoyed look and a sigh. "Please Jade? Seriously, it would make Cat so happy." But Jade shook her head, grabbed my wrist and removed my hand from her door. Before she could get into her car though, I quietly said, "It would make _me_ happy.", which made her freeze. Her bright eyes snapped up to me; all I needed to do was smile hopefully, then she sighed and I knew I had her.

"Well… what have you two nutheads planned?"

My face split up into a huge grin. I wasn't even embarrassed by the squeal that escaped me as I threw my arms around Jade's neck, muttering my thanks into her hair over and over again. "I hate hugs," she mumbled but her actions said otherwise as her arms slowly snuck around my waist and gently pulled me closer. My heart began to beat faster; I wondered if Jade felt it against her own chest.

"You love mine," I mumbled with a small smile, shivering when Jade's fingers ran over the length of my spine. She only grunted in response before she slowly pulled away, folding her arms across her chest and leaning her hip against her car. "So? What are we doing?"

"We'll watch some movies."

Jade groaned. "Oh my God. Please tell me Cat isn't choosing."

"… Yeah. She is."

Another groan, louder this time. "Seriously? Great, Vega! Then we'll watch every freaking Disney movie that exists!"

"Pffft." I waved my hand dismissively. "I'm sure we won't."

_**-OS&SD-**_

101 Dalmatians.

The little Mermaid. (Okay, I actually had expected to see that tonight.)

The Lion King.

Well… Jade was right, to say the least.

"Oh my God! Can I go home now?"

Cat stopped singing along as the end credits of the Lion King rolled down the screen, turning around with a frown. "No! I have part two too!"

Jade groaned, her forehead falling against my shoulder. "Please tell me she's joking." But when Cat proceeded to pull out the DVD case of 'The Lion King 2' I couldn't help but laugh softly. I really didn't mind watching all those movies. They were classics, you were never too old to watch them. But for Jade, as she put it earlier, it was pure torture and not the good kind (which actually made me wonder what the good kind of torture was…).

"I'm going to put it in now," Cat exclaimed happily and dashed for the DVD player.

"You owe me," Jade murmured into my shoulder before lifting her head and letting her back hit the back rest in an overdramatic fashion. Her hand shot out and stole the bowl of popcorn from my lap, placing it on her own, her other hand taking a handful and popping it into her mouth.

"Okay," Cat said, turning around from her position in front of the TV, "Can I start the movie?"

With me nodding and Jade grumbling something under her breath, Cat pressed play and the movie started. Instead of joining us on the sofa, Cat stayed on the ground in front of the TV, eyes glued to the television. She really was like a little kid. I didn't know if I was allowed to find it adorable or if it should seriously worry me…

When the part came in which Sira sung little Kovu her lullaby, I felt a small poke at my ribs. I ignored it, knowing that Jade just wanted to tease me, but it wasn't long before she poked again. And again. And again. Fighting off a smile, I turned to her, narrowing my eyes at her smirking face. She turned back to the movie, smirk staying on her lips and finger still prodding my side. The tickling sensation her fingers evoked made me bite my lip in a hopeless attempt to stop myself from giggling. Cat was still completely engrossed in the movie so I quickly swatted Jade's hand away before reaching out to pinch her arm. Eyes widening, she turned toward me. Before she was able to do the same to me, I grabbed her hand in mine. My breath hitched however and smile slightly fell when Jade laced her fingers through the gaps between mine. I was nearly biting off my lip when Jade's thumb ran over my skin, back and forth, back and forth. It was almost painful, the way the little butterflies beat their wings against the walls of my stomach, but I guess… it was a good kind of pain. Hesitantly, I lifted my eyes from our hands, only to see Jade still staring down at them. _It wasn't a dream. It wasn't a dream_, I told myself over and over again when I finally found the courage to-

"I think Kovu looks a lot like Beck."

Cat's voice made Jade pull her hand back, almost ripping off my own in the process. Trying to calm my racing heartbeat, I looked to the front where a now grown up Kovu was on screen. My eyes shifted to Cat, her eyes still completely fixated on the TV. Thank God. When I glanced at Jade, she too had her eyes glued to the screen but I knew, unlike Cat, her thoughts weren't revolving around any sorts of lions at all. My nails scraped against my jeans as I desperately tried to concentrate on the movie but the song that came up next really was making things kinda hard. Hands itching to reach out for Jade again, I suddenly felt my heart in my throat and breathing turned out to be increasingly difficult.

"_Where the hippos swing from the jungle vines_

_And the rhino rumba in a conga line,_

_And the pink flamingos are intertwined_

_As the stars come out to play"_

When the chorus started I couldn't help but to glance over at Jade, biting down on my lip as hard as I could as I watched her hands tightly gripping the bowl of popcorn on her lap and eyes staring at the TV screen. Was this as hard for her as it was for me? God, I needed to stop. _Just concentrate on the movie. Forget about Jade. Concentrate. On. The movie. The movie where a monkey was singing about love. Don't let it bother you that she's shuffling closer to y- _Wait, why was she shuffling closer?! I couldn't look at her and yet… I did. And met the most incredible, intense eyes I've ever had the pleasure to look into.

"_You better watch your step 'cause the path is steep  
Better hold your breath cause the water's deep  
It's a long way down over Lovers' Leap  
But falling's half the fun!"_

Closer and closer her head came, her eyes never leaving mine and God, I couldn't help but lean in too. The cheesiest but also the most beautiful moment of my life happened then, as our lips brushed just as the next chorus started.

"_In Upendi_

_Where the passionfruit grows sweet_

_And it's so divine_

_That you lose your mind_

_As it sweeps you off your feet!"_

I only wasted one second thinking about the bowl of popcorn that spilled from Jade's lap as she twisted her body toward me and deepened the kiss, pulling me closer to her by the back of my neck.

_In Upendi_

_Without a worry or a care!_

_It just takes two_

_To make it true_

_Your heart will take you there"_

Holy Mufasa... I was officially in love with this movie.

* * *

_A/N: Yeah, so... I was watching the Lion King 2... and then this happened. I couldn't help it. It's my favorite song, okay?  
_


	11. Eleven

Both of Jade's hands cupped my face, her lips fervently moving against mine. I still wasn't really convinced that this was actually happening right now, maybe… maybe I fell off the sofa while watching the movie and hit my head on the edge of the coffee table, so now I was hallucinating or dreaming while I was unconscious and when I'd wake up, I would be in a hospital bed, with Jade-

She suddenly ripped her lips away which caused me to open my eyes. It was now or never, hospital or my living room.

Thousands of little lightning bolts struck in my stomach when Jade's electrifying eyes looked back at me. Oh thank God, no concussion, no hospital room. I could only release a shaky breath when one of her hands moved to the back of my head, fingernails lightly scraping against my scalp as she took hold of a chunk of my hair. She took a deep breath before shooting forward, our mouths immediately fusing together again. When her tongue swiped against my bottom lip however, I slowly began to realize that Cat was still in the room with us. Wait, oh my God! Cat was still in the room with us!

My teeth snapped together as the horrifying image of Cat's wide, shocked brown eyes fixed upon her two friends making out in the middle of a Disney movie burned into my brain, so I quickly pulled away, my own wide eyes shooting to the front. But Cat seemed to not have noticed a thing, still sitting cross-legged in front of the TV while quietly watching the movie where the song just ended.

Oh man, my heart nearly gave out there for a second…

Releasing a slow breath, I turned back to Jade, my eyes widening when I saw her face scrunched up, fore- and middle finger rubbing at her lip, and I realized that I must have bitten her. I slid closer to her, my hand coming to rest on her thigh. "I'm sorry," I whispered, blushing a little when her wide blue-green eyes snapped up to me.

"You bit me!" she whispered back, incredulous.

"You kissed me! With _Cat _in the room!"

Her mouth opened to retort something, but instead of Jade's voice, I heard Cat's. "I think Kovu and Kiara are so cute together!" Jade rolled her eyes, pushed my hand off of her thigh and crossed her arms while turning back to the movie. "Don't you guys think so?"

I turned to the front just in time to see Cat crane her neck toward us as she waited for an answer. "They're animated lions," Jade stated in a monotonous voice to which Cat just shrugged.

"They're still cute. And I loved the song! _In Upendi! Where the passionfruit_-"

"No!"

Immediately falling silent, Cat pouted at Jade before her eyes flicked to the floor, a frown appearing. "Why is there popcorn all over the floor?"

"Uh…" I glanced at Jade who pretended to watch the movie. "Jade… spilled it."

"_I_ spilled it?"

"Yes, _you_. But you know what? I'm going to be nice now and clean it up for you."

When Cat turned back to the movie, I crouched down and began to collect the popcorn, dropping every handful of it back into the glass bowl. I welcomed the short distraction as a warmth I had never experienced before spread through my body. Excitement, relief happiness, but also confusion and fear took a strong hold of me. After all, I had no clue what would happen next. Was she going to pretend that nothing ever happened? Tell me that it was a dream again? I wouldn't even put it past her, to be honest. It was such a… a Jade thing to do. Doing things without even thinking about it first. Ladies and Gentlemen, Jade West. I hadn't even realized that I sat completely still and was dumbly staring at the floor until I felt a hand swatting mine away. When I looked up, Jade was kneeling across from me picking up popcorn. "Can't do anything alone, can you Vega?" Amusement tugged at her lips although she tried to hide it. Feeling like I might do or say something stupid (which, let's face it, I do most of the times) I sat still and let Jade pick up the remaining popcorn. My eyes never left her face though as I tried to detect any discomfort or sign of regret of what we did just a couple of minutes ago. But all I saw was… well, nothing. She seemed to be completely focused on the task of picking up popcorn that her face stayed calm and unreadable.

Minutes passed until Jade had picked everything up while I continued to stare at her with a troubled frown. The glass bowl was half-full again, the way it was before we spilled it, when Jade sighed and put it onto the coffee table. She got ready to get off the floor but then her eyes met mine. I couldn't look away, nor did I want to. For a long moment I tried to decipher what was going through her mind, what she was possibly thinking, feeling. But only when the corners of her mouth lifted, only the _slightest_ bit, did I find myself getting new hope that those kisses wouldn't be ignored, that I wouldn't be told that they were absolutely meaningless. So with my hope restored I returned that smile, before we both quietly got up and sat on the sofa again, continuing to watch the movie.

With a proper distance between us.

_**-OS&SD-**_

"Aww, do you really have to go already?" I glanced from Jade to a pouting Cat, whose face suddenly brightened up from one second to the other. "We could play a game!"

"Yeah, no thanks. That's exactly the reason why I have to go."

Normally I would have rolled my eyes at such a comment but today I just couldn't bring myself to. Biting my lip I turned back to Jade. Just as she was removing her hair from under the collar of her leather jacket she caught my eye, stopped for a short moment then resumed her task without letting her eyes leave mine. "I'll see you tomorrow at school though," she said but I knew, coupled with the way she didn't dare to look away from me, that it was meant as some kind of reassurance for me. Between her words I could hear her say that today wasn't going to be forgotten, no matter how frightening it might have been for her, for _both_ of us. Jade waited until I sent her a slight nod and a smile before she ripped her gaze from me and turned to the door. I bit my lip harder as Cat skipped into the bathroom, and before Jade could close the door behind her, I pulled it open again, Jade's wide eyes turning to look at me. "What are you doing?"

My lip slid out from between my teeth as a breath rushed out of my mouth and I tightly held on to the doorframe. "Jade," I whispered but was halted when she held a finger to her lips. She shook her head before she said, "Don't. You'll ruin it."

I stayed quiet and captured my lip again, this time, not returning the soft smile Jade sent me before she walked away from me. And even long after I heard her car leave my driveway, even after I heard Cat return from the bathroom, I stood leaning against the doorframe, wondering what exactly would happen tomorrow. There was no way I could be prepared for _whatever_ it was, whether good or bad, since the girl I was in love with was _Jade_ of all people. Jade, who was… so inapproachable at times and who was the most confusing person I knew.

"Tori! Why are you standing there? Come on, let's play Go Fish!"

With a sigh, I slowly pushed myself off of the doorframe, pushed the door shut and put on a smile before I turned to face Cat. "I'll get the cards!"

_**-OS&SD-**_

"Cat, help me carry my bag."

"Kay Kay!"

I rolled my eyes as my sister pushed her bag into Cat's hands, who happily carried it for her. They walked side by side across the parking lot and into the school, completely ignoring the fact that I was even there, for which I was actually thankful. Little butterflies, but not the ones who are enjoyable, fluttered in my stomach when I thought of the confrontation with Jade today. Well, _confrontation_ seemed to be a harsh word but what else would I call-

I stopped dead in my tracks, my eyebrows creasing at the sight in front of me. There she was, leaning against the side of her car, bag slung over her shoulder and arms crossed. But that wasn't what made me feel all queasy inside. No, what made me feel like a blender was mixing my insides was the person who stood in front of Jade. A tan hand lifted to run through extraordinary pretty hair as Beck's other hand held on to the strap of his backpack. I could see his mouth move but I was too far away to actually hear what he was saying. What if he wanted to get back together? What if Jade wanted that too? I quickly scanned Jade's face but all I could see was a bored frown while she listened to whatever Beck was telling her right now.

_Maybe I should… go over there and if he _really_ wants Jade back, then I could do something about it and… wait, no, what was I supposed to do about that?_

The best thing to do would have been to just go inside but I couldn't bring myself to tear my gaze away from the former couple, so I stayed, with my feet rooted to the spot. Beck seemed to talk and talk and _talk_ while Jade sighed occasionally, gently stomped her foot on the ground, looked up and then-

-spotted me.

The frown on her face softened slightly but not enough to consider her to be happy to see me. I suddenly panicked, because, what if she thought I was trying to eavesdrop? I felt my eyes widen a little and before I knew it, Jade left Beck standing by her car and was making her way over to me. But instead of staying where I was my feet decided that _this _was the perfect moment to get moving. In fast strides I walked into the school, cringing slightly when I heard the _thump thump thump_ of heavy boots following me.

"Tori!"

I closed my eyes and finally stopped walking just as I walked through the door. Jade's hand wrapped around my elbow and turned me around, and when I reopened my eyes I saw Jade staring back at me with a deep frown on her face. "Why are you running away from me?"

"I'm not! I just… I saw you with Beck and I thought… I thought-"

"You thought what?"

"I thought I… I didn't want to interrupt anything."

Jade nodded slowly, and then stared at me for a while before I felt her hand run down the length of my arm until it reached my wrist, where it once again gently wrapped itself around me. She walked past me and I had no other choice but to follow her, seeing as she pulled me with her. I had no idea what she had in mind but next thing I knew I found myself in… the janitor's closet.

"Um…" I looked around before I tentatively looked at Jade. "What are we doing here?"

Jade shrugged and took a wrench into her hand, turning it over and running her fingers over it. Her eyes avoided mine as much as she could. "We can talk here. Without being interrupted."

"Oh, okay…" In the back of my head I thought of the janitor and that he _could_ interrupt us. It was his closet after all and his stuff was here and… yeah. Anyway.

After she released a loud sigh and put the wrench back to its previous place, Jade began speaking. "Yesterday, I… I didn't know-, I mean I _did_ know, I did know what I was doing but it was… not what I usually do. I mean I don't go around and just… kiss people, not that I thought you were thinking that but you know. It's just…" She briefly closed her eyes, released a deep breath, and ran a hand through her hair. Wow, she was so… nervous. When she opened her eyes again, they immediately found my own. "I'm not gay, Tori."

My mouth opened but I didn't know what to say. I didn't even know if _I_ was gay. I knew that I was in love with Jade and that I found her attractive and she was just… perfect in every way but… I never really considered if… another girl could ever catch my eye the way Jade did. I had two boyfriends in the past, before Jade came back from San Francisco but I had never considered dating a girl. Other than Jade of course. So… what did that make me? Oh man, I wish there was some kind of test or something which would tell you your definite sexual orientation... "Tori?"

"What?" I snapped my eyes back to Jade and realized that I hadn't listened to a word she just said. "I-I'm sorry, I was… I… What did you say?"

She sighed. "I asked if… if… _you_ were."

"I… I really don't know," I admitted and looked down at my hands. I blushed even before the next words left my mouth. "But I… I really liked kissing you."

To my surprise I could see a small tint of red on Jade's cheeks too and it strangely gave me the courage to ask, "Did you like it?"

Again she sighed, for what felt like the hundredth time that day. She looked away but remained quiet. Faintly, the bell was ringing, signaling the start of first period, but neither of us made a move, neither of us really cared. "Tori… we can't… _do_ this. I mean, I don't regret kissing you because, well… it was… amazing actually. But I just don't understand what that makes me. I suddenly have… these weird feelings, and I shouldn't have them because you're my friend and I shouldn't feel the way I feel. So I-"

"Does it feel good?" She looked at me, her lips pursed. "The way you feel about me? Does it feel good?"

"Well… yeah, but that's not the point."

"That _is_ the point, Jade." I came closer to her and tentatively reached my hand out, curling my fingers around the edge of her jacket. "How about… we'll just let it come to us. You know, kind of like… no strings attached. We will spend time with each other just like we did before yesterday and just… do whatever feels right."

"Whatever feels right," she repeated thoughtfully, "So… is that just an excuse for you to take advantage of me and my body?"

"I- No! No, that wasn't what I-"

The smirk that appeared on her face made me realize that she was joking. I blushed a glowing red, even more so when Jade's finger brushed over my warm cheek. "Whatever feels right. Alright, I can do with that."

And then she just left me standing in the janitor's closet, embarrassed and happy, with flaming cheeks but also a face splitting grin.

* * *

_A/N: It's KCA Day, yay! Let's hope all the voting has paid off and we'll win. But remember, voting is still open until the show starts, so... you know what to do.  
_

_I'm so glad you all seemed to like their first kiss. I was so nervous because, after I really thought about it, it felt so weird and cheesy to have let them kiss during 'In Upendi' and... I don't know. But you liked it so it's all good. Oh, and wikster: Stop yelling at your computer screen! It's going to get anxiety attacks every time it sees you._


	12. Twelve

_A/N: Brief mention of The Hambone King._

* * *

I shivered a little and quickly grabbed my towel from the hook, beginning to dry myself off. My brain was still buzzing from everything that had happened the past week between Jade and I and a smile, one that always appeared when Jade was invading my head, pulled at my lips. There wasn't much that had changed but then again, _everything_ had in some way. Jade's glances grew longer, her touches briefer. But since Cat was staying with me, we hadn't gotten the chance to really… explore this new sort of friendship, other than a few brief kisses in the janitor's closet between classes or Jade's hand stroking my knee under the lunch table.

But now, Cat was back home and my plans for the weekend only involved Jade, and man… I couldn't wait to see her tomorrow. I missed her, in a way, even though I saw her every day. I walked out of the bathroom and slowly padded through the hall to my room, twisting the doorknob around to open the door. My gaze was kept on the ground as I stepped into the room and closed the door behind me.

"Well, ooh la _la_!"

I whirled around with a gasp, my hand resting over my racing heart while my eyes fell on Jade, leaning against the windowsill with crossed arms and smirk on her lips. "Would you look at that."

"Holy chiz, Jade! How did you get in here?" She shrugged her shoulders and craned her neck back, motioning to the window with her chin. I narrowed my eyes at her and stepped further into the room. "My window was closed." I was sure I closed it before I went into the shower, I always do. So how…? My eyes widened at the way Jade's eyebrows quickly moved up and then down again, smirk widening. Realization struck. "You _broke_ into my room?!"

"Relax," she said, lifting her left shoulder in a shrug. "I didn't destroy your window. I'm good at this."

"Do I want to know why exactly you're good at that?"

Her eyebrows scrunched together before she chuckled and shook her head. "I just am. What, you think I'm a criminal?"

"Well, _I_ can't break into people's rooms. Sooo…"

"Oh, I see. You know, actually I _am_ a searched criminal. That's why we moved away from San Fran. We had to leave because I kept breaking into everyone's houses."

I laughed but when I let my hand fall from my chest, I felt the soft texture of the towel against my fingers and realized just how… naked I actually was. And when I followed Jade's eyes that were trailing up my bare legs right about now, I knew that she had just realized the same thing. My arms immediately folded over my chest, pressing the towel more tightly to me in case it magically decided to fall off or something. Clearing my throat, I smiled when Jade's eyes shot up again. "What are you doing here?"

The color of her eyes was swallowing me up, into a grey world with splatters of blue and green everywhere. It was a world I wanted to live in, a world in which I wanted to spend the rest of my life in, a world I wanted to die in. "It felt _right_ to come here," she murmured teasingly while advancing towards me. Closer. I took a step back. Closer. Another step back. _Closer_. My back hit the door. "I just thought since Cat's parents are back and she's back home… it's safe to come here again." Shivers danced along the path Jade's fingers took from my elbow up to my shoulder, making me take in a deep gulp of air. "I-I'm not wearing anything underneath," I blurted out and lifted my hands to make sure the towel was still securely wrapped around my body.

"I figured," Jade said while trying to keep a chuckle in, her brow furrowing, "I don't plan to rip the towel off you, don't worry."

"Oh! No, I, I, I didn't think you would!"

"Then why are you blushing?"

"I- Cause- You… 'Cause you have a dirty mind!"

A throaty laugh left Jade's mouth. "Alright, blame it on me. Well then, get something on."

"Yeah. Alright. I'll uh…" My smile must have been so awkward as I tried to squeeze myself out from between Jade and the wall, for Jade didn't move a single muscle and continued to stare at me with that amused twinkle in her eyes. With my bottom lip wedged between my teeth I made my way to my closet. I could tell Jade's eyes never left me, even while I was standing with my back to her. Goosebumps erupted all over my skin as I could feel Jade's gaze, those gorgeous eyes teasingly glinting while fixed upon my back, burning through the thin fabric of the towel. She was probably enjoying this for all I knew, since the way my body reacted and the blush that seemed to constantly color my cheeks when she was around was a pretty good indicator for the effect she had on me, and Jade was definitely one of those people who enjoyed it to make people squirm. Immensely so. So when I turned around after I grabbed a pyjama, I wasn't all that surprised to find Jade staring at me, lips pulled into that ridiculously… swoon-worthy smile, for a lack of a better word to say. _Swoon-worthy._ Oh wow, who says that anymore? I smiled back, trying to ignore the feeling of my heart pounding hard against my ribcage. "I'm… I'm going to go change now. In the bathroom. And… then I'll be back."

"Okay. I'll wait here."

"Yes." I nodded and began to walk backwards, smiling and pointing a finger at her while my other hand tightly held my pyjamas. "_You_ stay here. And I'll be… back soon."

I let my hand fall to my side, reaching behind me to open the door without taking my eyes off Jade and then, after endless seconds of fumbling for the door handle, I finally managed to get out of my room. Inhaling deeply, which had seemed almost impossible in my room, my back softly collided with my door and my eyes closed. _Holy cheese, Tori, calm the chiz down!_ I swear this girl will drive me into cardiac arrest someday.

I actually didn't know why the heck I was so ridiculously nervous. Maybe because this would be the first time we'd be really alone with each other and well… everything could happen now. I mean, not _everything_. Not _that_ kind of stuff but… other… stuff. Oh God…

"Tori, are you alright?"

_Oh, damn it!_

I opened my eyes and immediately pressed the palm of my free hand harder against the door. I smiled at my mother. "Yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine. Why are you asking?"

Her face took on a amused expression. "You're standing in the hall, with your eyes closed and only wearing a towel," she slowly explained, eyeing me curiously. "Is something wrong?"

"N-no. I'm just… on my way to the bathroom. See?" I held up my pyjamas with a bright – too bright – smile. Oh man, I really needed to work on my acting. "And my eyes were closed because… it's a… relaxation technique Sikowitz wants us to try out. Close your eyes and think of… coconuts."

_What?_

"Coconuts?"

"Yeah, coconuts. It's supposed to… make you forget all the bad and remember all the good things in life." _Oh my God. Are you serious, Tori?_

"Really?" My mom's face was scrunched up in confusion. I nodded and her face relaxed slightly. "Well, I have to say, that teacher of yours seems to be kind of crazy."

"Yeah… he kind of is. But he's a good teacher, so…"

"If you say so. But is really everything okay with you?" She still didn't believe a word I said, I knew that, but it really wasn't like I could just tell my mom that Jade was sitting in my room.

"_I don't think mom and dad would like that. I mean, I guess it was still okay when you guys were younger but it's kinda different now."_

"_She's still _Jade_. Mom and dad know her, it's no big deal."_

"_I think it would be a big deal if they knew you have the hots for her."_

And while I thought Trina was just trying to get a rise out of me at the time, I could see now where she was coming from. If my parents knew Jade and I weren't… _just_ friends anymore, who knew how they would react. Even if I would assure them that there wasn't anything "happening" (if you catch my drift) between us, they would probably still handle the situation the same way as if Jade were a boy. And the rule about boys in Trina's and my rooms: _not allowed_. But since I was just a terrible, terrible liar, I figured the best I could do was… well… lie to my mom and suppress the fact that Jade was right behind the door I was leaning against.

"Well, I'm just going to go change now," I said to my mom and slowly removed myself from the door. Mom got ready to say something and I found myself already busted, when her phone vibrated in her hand and alerted her of a new text message. I frowned at the smile that instantly appeared on her face.

"Okay then. Goodnight Tor." She glanced up at me before focusing completely on her phone, typing in a reply to whomever texted her while she went back down into the living room. Huh. Well, okay. It took me only a few minutes to get changed, yank a brush through my hair and brush my teeth before I quickly walked back to my room, taking one last deep breath before entering. Jade was sitting on the edge of my bed, a pile of photographs on her lap. When I came in she looked up from the one she was holding in her hand.

"Do you still do that Hambone stuff?"

She held up a picture of me and my hamboning partner Gerald. I smiled, shook my head and quietly sat down next to her. "Ugh, thank God. I never understood why you loved that so much."

I shrugged but didn't say anything about it, instead I plucked a picture of Jade and I from Jade's lap. It was taken shortly before she moved to San Francisco but the big smiles we both were sporting didn't give anything away of the sadness we both had felt. My eyebrows furrowed and my lips formed a light smile when I remembered where I kept these photos. In the second drawer of my desk. "Where did you get those pictures, hm? Have you been snooping around, Miss West?"

She sighed and took the picture of us out of my hand. "You've been taking too long. I was bored."

"I wasn't accusing you," I murmured, shuffled closer and rested my chin on her shoulder. "You know… we should add to that collection. Take new pictures."

The tip of Jade's nose brushed against the bridge of mine when she turned her head. She made a quiet hum, but I didn't know if she was agreeing with me or if she hummed out of a completely different reason. Her eyes closed, her head came closer and her nose brushed against my cheek. Her lips parted as she took a deep breath, and then slowly exhaled before quietly asking, "You know what I'm doing right now?"

"What?"

"I'm thinking about coconuts. It's so relaxing."

I groaned and lifted my chin from Jade's shoulder, turning my head away. "You eavesdropped!"

"How come I don't know about this new relaxation technique?"

"I didn't know what else to say!"

"Well, why _were_ you standing in the hall with your eyes closed?" My eyes snapped back to her. Smirking, she raised her eyebrows suggestively. "I don't think you were thinking about coconuts."

"I… that's… Well, I was!"

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"If I didn't turn into a coconut overnight then you most definitely weren't thinking about coconuts."

"I wasn't thinking about you!" I lifted my hands and pressed them to my warm cheeks which made Jade burst out laughing. Oh my God, my head will explode with all the blood rushing up. Blushing so much couldn't be healthy. "Stop! I wasn't… I was-"

"Don't be embarrassed," Jade said, still laughing, "I'm pretty damn awesome. How can your thoughts _not_ be with me every second of every day?"

Jade's fingers wrapped around my wrists and pulled my hands from my face. Her chest still shook with small chuckles and her eyes shined with a small layer of tears from laughing and God… she looked so, so beautiful. "Really, don't be embarrassed. I'm flattered, Vega."

There's suddenly a huge pressure on my chest, squeezing and pushing so that breathing got hard, but it was kind of pleasant and I knew that it was just the way Jade made me feel. As if she was my life elixir I quickly leaned forward and captured her lips in a kiss, which immediately lifted that heavy, heavy weight from my lungs and made me forget everything else around me, other than Jade's lips, Jade's touch, other than… than Jade. While her right hand let go of my wrist and tangled in my still damp hair, she broke away from our kiss and nipped at my bottom lip once, mumbling, "You, Miss Tori Vega, are the most adorable idiot on this entire planet."

I began grinning like the idiot she just described me to be and placed my forehead on hers. "Thank you," I mumbled back, making her laugh softly.

"You're welcome."

We sat like that for a while in complete silence, with her scent bringing me into another universe, her gentle touch on my wrist making my heart accelerate and her breath softly hitting mouth. This was how I always want it to be. Only she and I, only us in this world. That's what I wanted. With a long sigh I pulled away, watching Jade let herself fall back on my bed. I stayed quiet for a moment longer while I enjoyed the way Jade's fingers slowly trailed up and down my spine before I craned my head back and said, "Hey… what would you say if I… would ask you out… on a date?"

Her hand stilled for a moment. "A date? I thought you said no strings attached."

"Yeah, but… a date is no strings attached."

"Uh, it kind of is." She lifted her hand and formed a small gap between her thumb and forefinger. "A little bit." Her hand fell back onto her stomach, a teasing smile on her lips.

"No, it's not! It's just a date, I'm not asking you to marry me."

A thoughtful hum rumbled in her throat. I lay down next to her, propped my elbow up and rested my head in my palm. "You did once though."

"You still remember that?"

"Well, how could I forget the first marriage proposal I've ever gotten?"

I chuckled and gently poked her ribs with my finger. "It's not a proposal this time though. So? What do you say?"

I found my confidence slipping with every second that Jade stayed quiet and her eyes stayed glued on me, staring at me without giving me a clue as to what she was thinking. I almost jumped up and bolted out of the room, when a smile stopped me. "Sure."

I grinned and her hand reached up to tangle itself in my hair again, swiftly pulling me down until our lips were only inches apart. "But you pay for everything," she quietly murmured before pulling me down completely.


	13. Thirteen

As soon as I opened the front door, a bright white flash exploded in front of me, partially blinding me for a millisecond. It took me a couple of seconds to blink away the white spots that blurred my vision, but when I managed, I spotted the cause for my momentary blindness. A small black digital camera went off again, but this time the white flash didn't directly hit my eyes. The owner of the little device lowered it and Jade's smiling face was revealed.

"What's going on?" I asked with a laugh and a shake of my head. "What's with the camera?"

"Well, you wanted to take new pictures, didn't you?"

She pushed past me and walked in, leaving me to close the door. "Yeah, I did. I just didn't think you'd go all crazy paparazzo on me."

"If I do something-" She paused to take another picture of me, this time giving me a chance to stick my tongue out for the camera. "-I do it right."

I laughed and nodded my head when Jade shut the camera off and put the loop fastened on it around her wrist, her head turning towards the staircase. "Your parents home?"

"Nope."

"Trina?"

"No, why are y-"

Jade's eager lips cut me off, muffling my question with an earth-shattering kiss. Her hands grabbed my upper arms to pull me against her body, and by all means, I couldn't keep the extremely awkward moan in my throat from bubbling out. I felt Jade's lips curve upward at the sound she evoked in me and her hands moved to my hips by flittering down my sides agonizingly slow, making me shiver. Tiny, flickering dots of white began dancing on the inside of my closed eyelids and only when a sudden dizziness took over me did I realize that I completely forgot to breathe.

I broke away with a gasp, inhaling as much air as I could while tightly holding on to Jade's arms. "Because I wanted to do that," she quietly murmured in that… low voice that just made me want to kiss her all over again, even if that meant I would die of a lack of oxygen. My fingers tightened around her arms, my mouth wide open while I tried to catch my breath. Jade chuckled. "Geez, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, it's fine, I… Wow."

"Wow?"

"Wow."

"Okay," Jade laughed and pulled away, all too soon for my liking. "So?" Jade crossed her arms, leaned against the back of the sofa while sending me an expectant look. My eyebrows furrowed and a confused smile began to tug at my lips.

"So, what?"

"So, what are we doing?"

"Oh. Uh, well we could… I don't know. What do you wanna do?"

My confusion only grew when a deep frown carved itself into her face. "What do you mean? Don't you have anything planned?"

I narrowed my eyes at her as if that would help me to figure out what she meant exactly. "Planned?" I pushed out a confused chuckle. "Why should I have anything planned?"

"For… for our date."

_Oh_. "Our date, I- You thought… today…?"

"Yes." Her tone was resolute and on the edge of irritation as if I explicitly told her that today would be our first date and I forgot about it, which was _not_ the case. Definitely not. "You said 'see you tomorrow.'"

"Yeah, I said that because… well, because 'see you tomorrow'! Not 'see you tomorrow on our date'! I haven't thought about what to do for our date yet."

Her arms fell to her side, the black camera dangling from the loop loosely wrapped around Jade's wrist. "So, no date?"

I slowly shook my head. She looked so freaking disappointed that I internally kicked myself for _not _having planned anything yet. I felt so, so bad, even more so when Jade tried to force a faint smile. Oh, why didn't I just kick a puppy?! "I'm sorry, Jade. I didn't know you were expecting something… _today_."

"No. No, it's fine. I shouldn't have expected anything, it's cool."

"But, I mean we could… we could uh…"

I tried to come up with something spontaneously just so that I could somehow erase the disappointment Jade, and even I myself was feeling but the more I thought about it, the stupider my ideas seemed to get. "Wow, I'm really bad at this," I mumbled absentmindedly, looking off to the side.

"You're not. I said it was cool. Let's just do something else."

I flicked my gaze up to her, seeing her stare at me with a blank face before a slow grin crept up to her mouth. "I know what we're going to do now."

_**-OS&SD-**_

I released a loud scream and clung tighter to Jade's arm, squeezing my eyes shut and wishing I could just chop my ears off as the agonizing screams of the girl in the TV pierced through my ear drums and echoed through my brain. The sound of pain-filled noises, maniacal laughter and stabbing noises mixed with the low chuckles of Jade.

How could she _laugh_ at something like that?! Seriously, where did she see the humor?

I hesitantly opened my eyes but did not spare a single glance at the TV screen, where I could still hear creepy music and disgusting noises, and instead looked at Jade, who was watching the movie with a smile on her face. She chuckled again, then began talking to me without lettering her eyes stray from the TV. "Your neighbors will think you are the one who gets murdered if you scream like that again."

"I can't help it! This movie is so-" I made the mistake of looking at the TV, where some lunatic just rammed a freaking rusty knife into some other guy's throat, blood streaming out while wet gurgling sounds erupted out of his mouth. The images caused me to let out a loud gasp and slap my hands over my face to which Jade laughed. "Oh my God, Tori! It's so obviously fake. You can _clearly_ see it is!"

"That doesn't make it any less horrible," I said, my voice muffled by the palms of my hands. "How can you even enjoy this?"

"I don't really enjoy it," she admitted casually, making me turn my head and peek at her through my fingers. "Not this one at least. It's so stupidly fake, the plot is basically nonexistent and don't let me get started on the extremely shitty acting."

"Then... why are we watching it?"

Jade slowly turned to face me and began to smirk. "I enjoy your reactions to it." My hands fell from my face as I shot her an unbelieving look. "What? It's so hilarious to watch you freak out at every little thing."

"Oh, okay. Glad I'm so incredibly entertaining to you." My shoulders sagged as I pouted and crossed my arms. Jade laughed and nudged my side with her elbow.

"Come on, get back to watching the movie so you can entertain me."

"I'm not gonna give you that satisfaction."

"Fine." She leaned forward with a sigh and grabbed the remote to turn off this torture. I closed my eyes in relief as the DVD player was finally turned off, ridding the room of the sounds of people getting murdered. When Jade leaned over me to get the remote for the TV too, I opened my eyes and immediately felt a sudden warmth on my face when I realized _where _my gaze landed. The black shirt Jade was wearing did a very good job of… showcasing her… well, her… her _cleavage_. Believe me, it wasn't the first time I noticed her… _it_, and I felt like such a pervert for it but I mean, how could you _not_ look?

"Oh…" I didn't even notice that Jade was sitting up again until I heard her voice, which of course immediately brought me to look up at her with a flaming face. She smirked and raised a single eyebrow. "I get it now. You_ were_ thinking about coconuts yesterday. Just about… a different kind."

It took me a little to figure out what she meant, but when I did, my eyes and mouth opened wide in shock. "No!"

I pressed my nails into my leg, completely _mortified_ when Jade let out a laugh. "Oh really? Are you sure about that?"

"Yes! Of course I'm sure about that. Oh my God, Jade!"

"What? You just blatantly stared at my boobs!"

"No, I did not! I was just… My eyes were-"

"Glued to my chest," she finished for me and smugly grinned. "You little perv, you."

"I- I'm not thinking about those kind of things."

"About my boobs?"

"No, I mean yes! I'm _not_ thinking about your boobs." Oh man, I couldn't possibly make this worse, my embarrassment just couldn't get any higher but next thing I knew, I mumbled out, "I'm… I'm a virgin."

_Why in the word did I just _say_ that?_

There was a short moment of utter silence, a silence in which I tried to avoid meeting Jade's gaze at all costs, a silence where I just wanted to die. "Oh. You are?" She sounded surprised… Why did that come as such a big surprise to her?

I shrugged and began fiddling with my fingers. "Yeah. So what, I mean… it's not a bad thing. I just, I don't- I didn't want-"

"No, no. It's not a bad thing. At all." Jade's reassuring voice made me look up to see her look at me… well, not any differently than before. "Relax, you don't need to defend yourself. I was just surprised, that's all."

"Well… why were you surprised?"

"I don't know. I just was. That doesn't mean I judge you."

I nodded, my teeth sinking into my bottom lip in case my brain decided to dig out even more embarrassing things… Ugh, please, who was I kidding? This was already as embarrassing as it could get. "Well, but just because you're a virgin doesn't mean that you can't think about sex. It's nothing to be embarrassed about."

Oh. So it _could_ go worse. "I know. But I'm not thinking about sex."

"Because you're busy thinking about my boobs," Jade quickly shot back, smiling teasingly.

"No!" I sighed loudly, rubbed a hand over my face and tried to scramble off my bed, falling flat on my face when my foot got caught in my twisted up sheets. _Oh my God, I want to cry._ I shot to my feet and brushed my hands down my stomach and legs to straighten my clothes. Jade was looking at me with raised eyebrows and a quivering smile as she tried to suppress her laughter. "What in the world are you doing?"

"I'm not comfortable talking about… about sex and boobs when I'm sitting on a bed."

"Oh," she dragged out in a slow, mock-realizing tone before she slowly got on all fours and crawled over the bed toward me. "But you're okay talking about it when you're _not_ on a bed?" Teasing eyes bore into my nervous ones when she reached me, sitting up on her knees at the edge of the bed with a light smirk tugging at the corners of her lips. I took a large step back to which Jade sent me a funny look. "Come here," she said and flicked her head back, motioning toward herself but I stayed rooted to the spot. "Tori, don't be a baby." I bit my lip when she leaned forward and wrapped her hands around my wrists, pulling me forward. "Come here."

For a while she just looked at me, smiling the faintest of smiles as her eyes ran over every part of my face while her thumbs gently ran over the skin of my wrists. Then, her eyes stopped on my lips. She lifted her hand, letting my arm fall limply to my side, and slowly ran her thumb over my bottom lip, my teeth immediately letting go of it. "It's good that you're still a virgin."

I breathed out a light sigh. "Why do you say that?"

"Well…" Her hand moved up, into my hair. "That way you won't regret it." She furrowed her eyebrows, shrugged her shoulder and then added as an afterthought, "Hopefully."

I walked closer to her until my legs pressed against the side of the bed. I hesitated just a second before asking, "Do you… regret it? Your first time?"

She seemed surprised by the question, looked at me for a moment before tilting her head to the side. "No. I don't."

"Was it with Beck?"

"Yes."

Just like always when Beck's name fell between us, a small twinge of jealousy went through my body. I looked down and nodded my head. "Okay."

"Okay? Okay what?"

"Okay… I don't know. Okay, thanks for telling me?"

"No problem. It wasn't a secret." Her hand slid out of my hair, over my neck and shoulder and down my arm until she could link her fingers with mine. My heart gently thudded in my chest and God, I just loved these moments. Where both of us would be quiet, just holding each other, listening to each other's breathing, just… _being_ with each other. The corners of my lips lifted when I realized that Jade kept staring at me, not saying a word, even when I gave her hand a tight squeeze. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Her lips twitched into a smile but her eyes never left mine. "Maybe I just think you're pretty."

I laughed softly, remembering the first time she had said those words to me, back in that empty classroom. But this time her tone lacked the slight sarcasm it possessed the last time and again, I found myself hoping she meant it. "Do you?" The words left my mouth before I could stop them but I seriously didn't care at that moment.

"Do I what?"

"Well, do you think I'm pretty?"

She narrowed her eyes and smirked at me before she ran her tongue over the front of her teeth and pretended to think hard about the question I just asked her. "From certain angles… yeah, sure."

My mouth fell open but I failed to hide my grin. "From certain angles?"

"Yeah. Some people might say that."

"Some people, huh? Well, from what angle do _you_ find me pretty?"

But instead of giving me an answer, Jade yanked me forward and crashed our lips together, arms tightly wrapping around my waist to press me flush against her before she twisted on the bed and lay down, pulling me down on top of her. When we broke apart, my lips still only inches from Jade's, our breaths mingling and hearts beating in synch, I at last got my answer.

"From every single one."


	14. Fourteen

"So…"

I paused, grinned and pulled at Jade's hands to bring her closer to me. The grin never left my lips as I slowly leaned forward and brought her into a long kiss, feeling her sigh against me. When we broke apart, she leaned back against the wall, her fingers starting to play with mine. "Are you ready for our date today?"

"Sure I am. Although I find it kinda weird to have it on a Wednesday…" She quirked an eyebrow. "What's up with that?"

"I don't know. I just thought it wouldn't be too obvious if people do see us."

"So we're going somewhere where people could see us? Like… a restaurant? Or something else?"

Ever since I told on Monday her that I would take her out today, Jade tried to do everything in her might to find out what I had planned. From asking me about it again and again to going through the calendar in my phone, she did _everything_. But I managed to keep it a secret from her which... she absolutely hated. "It's a surprise. You'll see later."

"I hate surprises. I don't want to be surprised. So why bother keep it a secret?"

Raised eyebrows and a half-smile tried to urge it out of me and for a moment, I even pretended to consider it. "You're right…" My eyebrows furrowed as I nodded. But after a few seconds, in which I could see Jade's excitement growing, I quickly shook my head. "Nah. Still a surprise. You'll have to wait."

"You're being ridiculous."

"You're being impatient."

"Well, your shirt is ugly."

"What? It is not! That's so mean!" I looked down at my purple shirt with furrowed eyebrows, my hands pulling at the material as I let my eyes run over it. It wasn't ugly! I liked that shirt! Jade chuckled and moved out from the prison between me and the wall. "Later, Vega."

"Wait!" She stopped with her hand on the handle. "One for the road?" I puckered my lips and watched her roll her eyes before she came back to me and placed a light kiss on my lips.

"There. Now I have to go."

I grinned like a maniac as I watched her exit the janitor's closet to get to her first class. Everything was so perfect and wonderful right now. God, and _Jade_ was perfect and wonderful. I leaned against the wall as I waited five minutes before I also made my way to my class. The day passed almost in a blur, the excitement of our date making my mood rise with every minute that passed. When I got to my creative writing class however, my smile slipped when Mr. Gradsteen began to pair us up to write a script.

"-Andre and Eli, Beck and Tori." Almost right after my name left the teacher's mouth the bell rang and everyone began to pack up their things, only half-listening to that what Mr. Gradsteen said. As I was putting my notebook into my bag, Beck walked over to me with his hands stuffed into the pockets of his pants.

"So, I guess we're partners, huh?"

I smiled at him and swung my bag over my shoulder. "Yep."

"Well, you have a free period now too, right? How about we begin working on the script now?"

"Oh. Um…" It was Jade's free period now too. We had actually planned to spend it with each other. But… if I'd start the script with Beck now, in school, that meant that we wouldn't have to meet up after school and that meant more time with Jade. "Yeah, sure. Let's do that."

He smiled and walked out of the room while I hung back a little to text Jade that I couldn't meet up with her because I had to work on a script. When Beck and I walked into the empty blackbox theater, my phone buzzed with a reply from her, a simple '_Kay'_. We took a seat on the floor with our backs against the wall. I took my notebook back out to write down the ideas we would come up with.

"So," Beck said with a big grin on his face, lightly nudging my arm with his elbow. I smiled and raised my eyebrows, knitting them when that grin didn't seem to disappear from his face. Nodding my head, I muttered out a long, "So…"

"You know, I'm really glad that we were paired up together," he suddenly exclaimed in a way too chipper tone. At least… way too chipper for Beck. I began twirling my pen in my fingers.

"Really? Why?"

"Well… I just think we're a great team. Don't you think?" I couldn't figure out where he was going with this nor could I see how he was so sure about us being a good team. I mean, sure, we had a couple of scenes together in Improv but that was it. Beck and I… we weren't really that close. I guess a lot had to do with the fact that I was secretly dating his ex-girlfriend. But that was just a guess.

"Uh, I guess we'll see. I don't know." Shooting him a smile, I turned back to the still blank piece of paper on my lap. "So, what kind of story should we do? There has to be some kind of mystery, at least three characters and a plot twist…"

"Hm… let me think." He rubbed his chin with his thumb and index finger as his eyes narrowed in thought. "Let's start with the mystery. What kind of mystery should we have?"

"Oh! We could write about a boy who comes home from school and goes to his closet to look for something. But instead of what he was looking for, he finds a secret door." I looked at him expectantly and saw him nod his head.

"Yeah, that's good." He smiled again, really big. I tried to ignore the weird feeling it gave me and began to write down our idea. "So, um… listen," Beck started and I glanced up from the paper, nodding for him to continue, before I resumed writing. "I've been meaning to tell you for a while now. I think you're pretty awesome." I froze, my eyes widening. Oh, please no. I looked up and grabbed the pen a little bit tighter. This really couldn't be happening right now, could it? No, no, no, no, no. Beck let out a light laugh. "Wow, you look like I insulted you. That was meant as a compliment."

"I-I know. Yeah, I know. Thanks." I really didn't want him to compliment me, really not at all. I cleared my throat and turned back to the paper in my lap. "So, the script. Behind the door could-"

"Would you go out with me sometime?"

The paper almost ripped in the middle as I pressed the pen into it as tightly as I could. I knew it, I _knew_ that was what he wanted with his stupid 'you're awesome' crap. I didn't want to go out with him, I had Jade, why would he-… Right, he didn't know about Jade. But seriously, how could he want to date me? He broke up with Jade like four weeks ago and he already wanted to date someone else? Well… but I couldn't really blame him, after all, Jade did the same. If he wanted to move on then let him move on but… really? He wanted to do that with _me_? "Um… Beck, I… No, I don't think that would be a good idea."

I risked to look up from the white paper but immediately regretted it as soon as I looked into the overly confused face of the boy I just rejected. "Why not?" Why not… well, what was I supposed to tell him? I stupidly stared at him for a long while, my head wiped clean of any vocabulary I might have possessed earlier. Internal panic began to break out. What was I supposed to _say_? "Tori…"

What was he doing, why was he coming closer? Oh my God! His eyes dropped to my lips as he came closer and closer and all I was able to do was lean back until I almost fell on my back. "No!" As soon as I said it, Beck pulled back, the confusion back on his face. I breathed out a sigh of relief and sat up straight again. "I… No, Beck."

"Um… I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"No, it's alright! It's… It's not a problem. It's completely my fault, don't worry."

My eyes closed as I rubbed my hands over my face. This was so awkward. After a couple of seconds I heard him ask, "Why can't we kiss?"

I sighed. _Because I don't like you that way. _My hands fell away from my face and I apologetically looked at him. "Because-" I wanted to say it. I did. But in that moment I noticed movement in the back, close by the door. My eyes widened at what I saw. "Jade."

Sharp blue eyes met my wide brown ones before she quickly walked out of the door.

"Jade? But Jade and I broke up. What-"

I didn't bother to let him finish nor did I give him an explanation of where I was going. I collected my things as fast as I could before I ran out of the small theater, letting the heavy door fall shut behind me. I saw Jade's back as she hurriedly walked down the hall, probably wanting to get away as fast as she could from Beck, from _me_. "Jade! Jade, please wait!"

I didn't expect her to wait. But she did. From one moment to the next she stopped walking, causing me to almost run into her. "It wasn't what it looked like, I swear!" It was the most clichéd thing to say but it was the first thing that spluttered out of me. She didn't react, just stood still with her back to me. "He- I told him stop, okay? I didn't kiss him, Jade."

"I know. I know you didn't." The calmness in which she spoke reassured me but at the same time kind of put me off. If she knew I didn't kiss Beck then why did she run away from me? I softly touched her arm, pulling a little so she would turn around. There was something in her eyes that I couldn't quite decipher. I knew it wasn't anything good though.

"Jade. I-"

Before I could finish, she grabbed my wrist and started dragging me through the hall. I didn't know where we were headed until the familiar door right past my locker came into sight. The janitor's closet. It was empty, as always, when Jade ripped the door open and all but threw me into the small room. "Jade, what's-"

"Okay, listen." I shut my mouth and did as she told me but… there was nothing I could listen to. She stayed quiet, her hands in her hair as she faced away from me. "I don't know how to do this," I heard her mumble, the grip on her hair tightening. I got a weird feeling in my stomach. I knew something bad was going to happen, I just knew it.

I took a step forward, a worried frown on my face. "You don't know how to do what?"

After she took a deep breath and let her hands fall to her side, Jade turned towards me. The look in her eyes had only intensified. "I can't-… I think we should stop seeing each other."

My eyes almost popped out of their holes. What did she say? "What? W-Why are you saying that?"

"It's just- We went too fast, okay? This wasn't a good idea."

"What wasn't a good idea?"

"Being with you like that and-" She broke off with an exasperated breath and briefly closed her eyes. When she reopened them, she shook her head at me. "You know, this- this isn't right. We're… God, Tori! This isn't how it should be!"

"What do you mean?" This just _had_ to be a joke. She couldn't do this. Why would she _do_ this?

"Us! I mean us…" Her voice grew softer. I didn't like that. I wanted her to be angry or anything else, I wanted her to yell at me. A quiet Jade was not a very good thing. "We grew up as… as friends, not as… whatever this right now is."

"What? I don't understand, what's so bad about us right now? It's not… We're both happy, how can that be wrong?"

"This isn't working out. It's never gonna work out."

"How do you _know_ that? How do you know that we weren't supposed to be together? I'm happy with you and I _know_ that you are happy with me so why do you make everything so complicated now?"

"I'm not making anything complicated! And how do _you_ know that this is right? How, Tori?"

"I don't-"

She threw her arms up. "See?"

"I don't just _know_ it's right, I can _feel_ it! Every time we're together I feel it, every time I think of you I can feel that It's right!" I sighed and shook my head. "Jade, you… you were never _just_ my best friend. You were… _are_… the person I want to be with. The only person I want around. It's always been like that. I-"

A bitter laugh made me stop talking. "Do you even hear what you're saying? You- I can't believe you."

"Why? I just told you the truth. It's what I feel and I… I know you… feel the same. You wouldn't be with me if you didn't."

"Ever thought about experimental phases? How can you be sure that that's not what _this_-" She motioned with her hand between us, "-is about?"

"I told you. I feel it." Jade shook her head. This was getting nowhere, of course I knew that. But I couldn't just let her go that easily, could I? I sighed softly and tried to make her see that breaking up with me – could you even call it breaking up? – was not the right thing to do. "Don't you understand how special it is to find your soulmate at such a young age? To know that you found the person with who you wanna be with in _elementary school_?"

"Okay." She chuckled dryly and shook her head again. "Life isn't some stupid Disney movie, Tori! There _is_ no such thing as soulmates and, and love of a lifetime-"

"Yes, there is!"

"_No_, there isn't! You're confusing reality with fiction!" The air in the room got so, so tense so fast. This wasn't how it should be with us. We weren't tense. We were best friends, we were Jade & Tori. "Do you remember when you were eight or nine, I don't know, and you wanted to let your hair grow out so you could be like Rapunzel?" I hesitantly nodded my head. "It didn't work out, did it? Well, newsflash! You're just as fucking delusional as you were when you were nine! With the exception that it was cute then but now, now it's just… frustrating and, and… pathetic."

We both grew quiet then. This whole situation was so messed up. Just this morning we were talking about our date and now it had… come to this? This wasn't right, it just… wasn't. I didn't even do anything, she had absolutely no reason to end-

If it was possible, a lightbulb would have lit up over my head.

"This is about Beck, isn't it?" When she swallowed and looked away from me, her arms protectively crossed in front of her, I knew that I hit the nail right on the head. "You still love him. This… You weren't jealous because he tried to kiss me, you were jealous that he wanted to move on."

"Tori," she weakly muttered but it was all clear now. Of _course_ she was still in love with him. Was I really that stupid? How could I believe that everything she felt for him just… disappeared? I was probably nothing more than her rebound. The fact that I had been so stupidly ignorant only added to the twinge that went through my heart and caused even more tears to form. I really was pathetic.

"I get it," I mumbled out, swallowing my tears. Before I really started to cry though, I pushed past Jade and walked out of the janitor's closet and out of the school.

I couldn't stay for another second.


	15. Fifteen

The dark brown of my cocoa was taking up all of my attention as I was sitting at the kitchen table in complete silence. Everyone was still out of the house, my parents at work and Trina still at school. It was so weird having the house so quiet. It felt almost… abandoned, as if it would stay that empty forever, with only me living here for the rest of my life. But I welcomed that, at least at the moment. I didn't want anyone asking questions about why I was home early, about why I was making such a sad face, about how my day had went.

My day… it had started so good.

I wished this was all a dream and that in just a couple of hours, I would get ready for my date with Jade. But that wouldn't happen now, now that… it was over. What was I supposed to do now? I had no idea how I should act now, what I should say, what I should do. I was in love with Jade. Jade was still in love with Beck. And Beck… well, Beck liked me. I scoffed quietly and shook my head. This was just the most clichéd introduction to a bad teenage drama movie ever.

Starring role: Tori Vega.

My head shot up when I heard a key sliding into the lock of the front door, which opened a couple of seconds later to reveal my mom. I bit my lip as I watched her walk in. When she closed the door behind her, her eyes lifted from the floor and met mine, her face taking on a look of surprise.

"Tori. What are you doing home already?"

I tried to shoot her a smile but judging by the way her face only creased more in confusion, I must have done a pretty bad job. "I uh… I wasn't feeling very well."

Mom let her bag drop onto the couch, never looking away from me, before she walked over to me, pulled out a chair from under the kitchen table and sat down. "What's wrong? Are you sick?"

My chest began to prick as I held my breath, trying my hardest to keep the sob located in the middle of my throat in. I couldn't tell her the truth. She would probably get so mad at me when she'd think back to all those times Jade was staying overnight and… I couldn't tell her. Or could I? It was over now and if I wouldn't talk to someone about it I was sure that I was going to explode with the disappointment I was feeling. I just wanted my mom, I wanted her to tell me that everything would be fine, even if I wouldn't believe her. "I'm not sick. I just, I needed to leave. I couldn't stay in school anymore."

My fingers wrapped around the mug of hot chocolate, my gaze drowning in the dark liquid. The red ceramic was so hot against my skin but I didn't let go of the cup. "What do you mean, you couldn't stay in school anymore?" A light squeak sounded as my mother shuffled her chair closer to me. "Tor, what's going on? You know you can talk to me, right?"

I bit down on my tongue and finally let go of the cup. The skin of my palm had turned red from the heat of the cocoa. A shaky breath left my mouth as I flexed my hands into two fists in an attempt to stop the burning I felt. It didn't really help that much though. "Mom, I have to tell you something." I paused but mom stayed quiet, patiently waiting for me to continue. "It's… Jade and I… we kinda began… dating a week and a half ago."

"Oh…" I slowly lifted my eyes from the cocoa, just in time to see my mom lift her shoulders in a light shrug. "Well, I can't say that it comes as a huge surprise to me." I frowned as she looked at me with a smile. "But that doesn't explain why you couldn't stay in school."

"Right." I looked back into my cup, my hands relaxing and my nails lightly running along the surface of the ceramic. "Well, so… we began dating and… we were both really happy. We were. Today after school… I wanted to take her out, on our first date, you know. But then, I got paired up with Beck and he's Jade's ex-boyfriend and they didn't even break up that long ago and then he tried to kiss me! He tried to kiss me but of course I told him no because of Jade, right? So-"

"Wait, but," My head snapped up as mom interrupted me. She frowned confusedly and slowly shook her head at me. "Why would that boy… Beck, why would he try to kiss you?"

"Well because he likes me, apparently."

"But you're dating Jade, he must know that you aren't interested in him."

"No," I whined, slapping my hands over my head. "He doesn't _know_ that Jade and I are together, no one does!"

"Oh." My hands fell from my head and down on the table as I turned to look at my mother. I could see that everything was a little bit too much for her and she probably didn't even understand half of what I was telling her but that didn't matter right now. At least I had someone to talk to.

"Yeah. And then, Jade saw that. Beck trying to kiss me, I mean. She ran away and I followed her and explained to her that I didn't want him to kiss me and… anyways, we ended up in the janitor's closet."

"The janitor's closet?"

"Yeah, we go there sometimes… to talk." I made a slight pause, averting my eyes. "So there… she told me that everything was wrong and that we went way too fast and… she just… she broke up with me. Because she's still in love with Beck."

The steady hum of the refrigerator was the only thing that could be heard for a while. My eyes dropped back to my hot chocolate that was growing colder by every second that passed. I didn't really know if I wanted my mom's advice. I think I just needed to tell someone and – as pathetic as it may sound – wanted someone to maybe pity me a little. Because… God, was I really not worth more? No one should be used as Jade had (apparently) used me, no one should serve as anyone's rebound. That was just cruel and, and hurtful. "I don't know what to tell you Tori," my mom eventually said and sighed softly, "I'm sorry that you're hurting, baby. But this is still Jade."

When her hand took a hold of mine and squeezed gently, I looked up at her. "She's still _your_ Jade. The girl who hates to see you cry, who never wants to see you hurt, who wants to make you laugh as much as possible. You know it probably killed her to hurt you like that."

I shook my head. "She changed, mom. She's not twelve anymore."

"Neither are you," she argued softly and raised her eyebrows, "You have changed too. Maybe not as much as Jade has but… you have. But you still care about Jade, probably more than you care about anyone else in this world. Who says that Jade doesn't feel the same way too?"

"Didn't you listen to me? She's still in love with her ex-boyfriend," I pushed out and pulled my hand out of my mother's. "He's way more important to her than I am. I don't stand a chance, mom. She's… I'm just little Tori to her. I'm just delusional and pathetic little Tori. Nothing more."

As I blinked, I felt a warm tear slide down my cheek, quickly followed by another one and then another one. "Oh, Tori," my mom cooed, "Don't say that. Everything will be okay, sweetheart. I know it will be."

I decided to stay quiet. How did she know that? How? She couldn't look into the future, could she? No one ever has a guarantee that life would work out the way you want it to and my mom didn't have that guarantee either. She simply had _no right_ to say that. When another while passed with neither of us saying anything, mom let out another sigh. "I remember the time when you asked me if you could marry Jade. Your dad told you that you should marry someone you love really much. You were ten." Mom chuckled. I sent her a watery smile at the memory. "You told me that it didn't matter that you two were both girls. Two princesses could be just as happy as a princess with a prince, that's what you said to me. You were awfully smart for your age."

I smiled. Two princesses. Yeah, but what if one princess wanted to rather have a prince with stupid perfect hair? I swallowed and felt a stinging in my eyes, announcing more tears to come. "You know what the worst part is?"

My mom sent me a weak smile. "What, sweetie?"

"I still wanna marry her!"

The next thing I knew I was crying into my mother's shoulder as she moved over to hug me, my body shaking with sobs and tears wetting my mom's shirt.

Oh, how much I hated love.

_**-OS&SD-**_

Two hours later I sat on my bed, my head resting against the headboard as I let my eyes rest on the window. What was I waiting for? Jade? Seriously? I didn't even want her to come. I _shouldn't _want her to come. I squeezed my eyes shut, feeling how sore they were from all the crying I did. The skin of my cheeks felt slightly taut from the dried tears I had shed in my mother's arms. I didn't have a clue how long we sat at the kitchen table, my mom holding me as I cried and cried without ever stopping. All I knew was that my cocoa was almost ice-cold when I had finally managed to calm down. When mom had gotten another one of those texts from Gary, my dad's partner, that almost always made her smile, I told her I'd be up in my room. She had been hesitant to let me go and told me that if I needed anything I should just yell for her. I released a long breath. She acted as if I was sick or something.

My ringtone went off, which caused me to open my eyes with a small groan. Grabbing my vibrating phone from my nightstand I suddenly froze when I saw Jade's face on the screen. What was I supposed to do? Answer? Let it ring? _Ugh Tori, don't be a baby. _With a heavy sigh, I answered the phone. "What?"

"_Hey…"_ I swallowed at the soft tone her voice held. _"You just left earlier. You missed all your classes."_

Way to point out the obvious. "I know."

Jade sighed. _"Tori, I think we should… talk. I didn't want-"_

Again I felt tears well up and I wondered how much more my body would be able to produce. "I don't want to talk. I just, I want you to leave me alone."

"_Don't be like this. At least let me explain-"_ The sob that broke out of me without giving me any chance to control it made her fall silent immediately. Hot tears ran down my cheeks once again and I internally scolded myself for wishing that Jade would be here to give me a hug. _"Tor, don't cry. Listen, I'm going to come over now and-"_

"No," I almost yelled into my phone, sniffled and sat up. "I don't want you to. I don't want to see you today."

"_Just let me explain,"_ she pushed, her voice strained as she probably was trying her best not to get angry with me. _"I know it was a shitty thing to do but at least give me a chance to explain why I did it."_

Maybe mom was right. Maybe it did hurt Jade a lot more than I thought. I closed my eyes for a moment and even though she couldn't see me, I shook my head. "Just please… please give me today. Just today, that's all I'm asking for, Jade. I just really don't want to see you right now."

A loud breath rushed through the line. _"Fine, but… if you need me…" _I almost scoffed at that. She was the reason I was feeling crappy in the first place. _"I mean… I'm sorry."_

"I know. That doesn't make it any better though."

I didn't hear what else she had to say. I had already hung up.


	16. Sixteen

_Nine year-old Tori Vega skipped up the pathway leading to the West household, halting once to turn around and wave at her parents sitting in their car as they waited for their daughter to get safely inside the house. When the small girl reached the front door, she stood on her tippy toes to ring the doorbell. A bright smile on her face and an excited sparkle in her eyes that seemed to always be there when she was about to see Jade greeted Mrs. West as she opened the door._

"_Hi, Tori!"_

"_Hi! I'm here to play with Jade!"_

_Jade's mother let out a small laugh as she gazed down at her daughter's best friend. "I know. Come on in." The dark-haired woman ushered the youngest Vega inside the house and sent Tori's parents a smile and a wave before they took off and Mrs. West closed the door. When she turned around, her eyes fell on Tori, rocking back and forth on her heels with her hands locked behind her back as she expectantly looked up at her. Mrs. West chuckled. "Jade is up in her room. You can go up if you'd like."_

_A bright smile immediately lit up the tan girl's face. She dashed towards the staircase, bouncing up the stairs excitedly. When she got to the top Tori took a right turn and promptly ran into Jade's dad. "Careful there," he said in his deep voice and Tori blushed and took a step back, peering up at the tall man._

"_Sorry, Mr. West."_

"_No harm done. Don't worry." He nodded at her and fixed his tie before he walked past, down the stairs and, after grabbing his keys and briefcase, out of the house. Tori waited until the door fell shut behind him before she continued her way to Jade's room. Jade's dad was so different from her own. Her dad was always smiling and laughing and making jokes while Jade's was… just really grumpy most of the time._

_A smile soon reappeared on Tori's lips as she finally reached Jade's room. Before she twisted the knob however, she paused. Pretty music filtered through the sturdy wood and after Tori pressed her ear against the door, she could make out the familiar tune and hear Jade quietly humming along. Curious as to where the music was coming from, Tori pushed the door open, eyes widening at what she saw. She gasped. "Oh wow! A piano!"_

_Fingers stilled and blue eyes lifted from the black and white keys to look at Tori. "It's a keyboard. My mommy got it for me." With her lip wedged between her teeth and corners of her mouth turned upwards, Tori quickly walked over to Jade and sat down next to her on the soft bed._

"_Can I touch it?"_

_Jade readjusted the keyboard on her lap and pushed it a little toward Tori. "Sure, go ahead."_

_Tori reached her hand out, stretched out her index finger and carefully let it run over smooth white keys. A small excited gasp escaped her mouth as Jade placed her finger on hers and pushed down, making a single note sound through the room. "I can play one song already," Jade told her happily. Tori's eyes snapped up._

"_I know! I heard it through the door! Will you play it for me?"_

_Jade quickly nodded and placed her fingers on top of the keys. She took a deep breath before she began playing. Dangling her feet off the bed, Tori began to sing along. _

"_You are my sunshine, my only sunshine._

_You make me happy when skies are gray._

_You'll never know dear, how much I love you._

_Please don't take my sunshine away!"_

_When Jade hit the last note, Tori began to clap enthusiastically, mirroring the grin on Jade's face. "Do you want me to teach you?"_

_When Holly and David came to pick their youngest daughter up a couple of hours later, they found Jade and Tori sitting on Jade's bed with the keyboard placed across both of their laps, the slightly wonky tunes of 'You Are My Sunshine' and Jade's laugh filling the room._

_**-OS&SD-**_

**_5.02 am_**

The red digits on the digital clock standing on the nightstand glared at me brightly as I heard the knocking sound again. I had thought I was dreaming but now, as I was blinking and slowly sitting up in bed, I heard it again and knew that I was very much awake and it definitely hadn't been a dream. _Knock, knock, knock!_ The sound was still gentle, yet it grew in intensity as the owner of the knuckles that rapped against my window was getting more impatient with every second that her calls were stayed unanswered. I waited until the two on my clock changed into a three before I begrudgingly got out of bed, trudged over to the window and pulled the curtains aside. Radiant eyes stared back at me, the fist, that was getting ready to knock again, stopping mid-air. I sighed and shook my head while I opened the window, however making sure the way was blocked so that Jade wouldn't be able to enter.

"What are you doing here?" I tiredly asked, rubbed a hand across my face before I crossed my arms in front of me.

"I just thought you'd be up for a game of scrabble," she joked with a light smile, "It's incredibly fun at five in the morning, I hear." I continued to stare at her blankly to which her smile disappeared and her eyes dropped down. "Sorry, I just… Will you let me in?"

Her eyes lifted up to mine. I sighed at the hope sparkling inside of them. "I thought I told you that I don't want to see you."

"Yeah. Yesterday. You didn't want to see me yesterday. I respected that."

I rolled my eyes at her stupid logic and let my arms drop. This was still _yesterday_ for me. It wasn't that much to ask for to let me get my – well-deserved, might I add – sleep, where I could dream and pretend that everything was still fine and the heaviness of my eyes wasn't caused by tears but just by how tired I was. But no, Jade had to come and take that from me too. Well, if that wasn't freaking nice. "Well, honestly… I don't want to see you today either."

Glaring at Jade was probably the stupidest thing anyone could ever do since I was pretty sure that she was the one who actually invented these looks that could kill, but I did it nevertheless. Her nostrils slightly flared and her jaw moved from left to right, only in the _tiniest_ bit that I almost missed it. But I didn't and I knew it was a clear sign that her patience was slipping and she was dancing on the very far edge of hot-blooded anger. As if _she_ had a reason to be angry. Pffft. "_Well, honestly-_" I sent her another glare at the tone she used to mock me. "I don't fucking care."

She hoisted herself up from the ladder and gave me no other option but to step back as she jumped into my room, a loud thump resounding when her boots hit the carpeted floor. I pouted and crossed my arms again as I watched her. She sighed lightly, flicked her hair back and slid her hands down her leather jacket before her frowning face turned to look at me. "I don't appreciate you using such words," I said coldly, lifting my chin a little. Her eyes narrowed.

"Oh really? Well, you know what I don't appreciate? That you won't even give me a single chance to tell you why I did what I did!"

"Oh yeah, I'm _so_ sorry, Jade. I'm sorry for needing a little time for myself after you dumped me. How selfish of me!"

"Don't be so unfair! That's not what I meant and you know it!"

"No, actually I _don't_ know," I said and crossed my arms again, "There's _a lot_ I don't know. For example why you got together with me in the first place. I mean, you must have known when I asked you out that you were still in love with Beck."

"If I remember correctly, you said we would start this out with, and I can quote you on that, _no strings attached_."

Wow, really? I couldn't believe this girl! "And that makes everything okay? Just because I said 'no strings attached'? That doesn't mean that I don't have feelings for you! Feelings that you just stomped on without giving it even one thought!"

I saw the muscles of her throat work as she swallowed harshly. As I rolled my lips in and my eyebrows dug down, Jade walked closer to me, keeping her gaze on me the entire time. I resisted the urge to take a step back. "Do you really think that?" she asked quietly, her face tense, "You are the only person in this world whose sadness can actually cause me _physical_ pain. I _hate_ it when you're upset. I hate it even more when I'm the reason for you to be upset. Don't you _ever_ think that I enjoy knowing that the tears you shed fell because of me. Because of something _I_ did. It's almost insulting to know that you think I don't care about how you feel, Tori."

It was my turn to swallow. My eyes dropped to the floor in shame, blinking so fast as they ran over the tips of Jade's boots. "Fine. It was wrong of me to assume you don't care. I'm sorry." It was a poor way of apologizing, mumbled out so quietly and to the floor that it shouldn't even be deemed as an apology. But Jade didn't deserve a better one at the moment. "But just because I apologized for that doesn't mean that everything is okay now. I'm still… upset. And I'm mad at you."

"You can be mad at me all you want, Tor. You have every right to be mad at me." A pause followed in which I heard her sigh quietly before I felt her hand carefully taking a hold of my jaw to make me look up at her. Her thumb brushed against the corner of my mouth as our eyes met. "You know… when I saw you with Beck, I was… shocked, I guess. Not at the fact that he wanted to kiss you because, well, you're you. I think everyone has a tiny crush on you." I bit my lip as her hand fell away from my face. "But just… seeing that he wanted someone who isn't me… made me realize that I don't think I could handle it if he got a new girlfriend."

"Because you're still in love with him," I said and felt the words slap me across the face. Jade nodded hesitantly but kept quiet as she waited for me to say something. "So you… I was just your rebound then?"

Jade's brows furrowed. "What?"

"You can tell me if I was. At least then it's out in the open."

"No!" She looked almost offended that I would suspect something like that. But was it really such a far-fetched thought? No, it wasn't. It was logical. "Tori, you know I wouldn't do that to you, don't you?" The answer she was waiting for never came as I averted my eyes and tried to look anywhere but at the girl standing across from me. After I showed no reaction, she questioningly – and very carefully – called my name. "Tori?"

I let out a loud sigh. Rubbing my forehead I said, "I don't know, okay? You really can't blame me for thinking that."

"I really do have… feelings for you. You could never be a rebound to me." I stayed quiet which seemed to give her the impression that I still wasn't really convinced. Actually, I didn't even know for myself if I really was convinced. She stepped even closer, her eyes boring into mine. "Tori, I_ swear_ to you. I wasn't trying to use you to get over Beck, I wouldn't do that to you."

When I looked into her eyes, those eyes that hadn't changed since she was seven years old, those eyes that could never _ever_ lie to me, I knew that I could believe her. They were clear, gaze unfaltering. There was no way that she was lying to me. I took a deep, shaky breath and began playing with my fingers. "Then why can't we… I mean, if you have feelings for me, then why can't we just… stay the way we are? I could help you get over Beck and just… I know that I can love you the same way as he did."

"Tori…"

I felt like a little child, begging my mom for the toy that was way too expensive even though I knew she would say no, no matter how much I'd beg for it. I knew it was futile but I kept going, trying to lure her in with my pleading eyes. "It doesn't matter how long it takes, I can wait. I know it's not that easy to just forget everything you felt for someone but… I could help you, I really think I could. And you-"

"No Tori, stop." Her hand stilled my fiddling fingers. "We can't. It's not fair to you. It's not fair to either of us."

"But-"

"No. Don't."

I bit my lip, looked down and tried to swallow the burning ball that was steadily building up in my throat while I pulled my hands out from under Jade's and tightly clasped them together. We were silent for a while, the sky outside getting lighter and the sun beginning to rise higher. "I get it if you don't want to see me for a while," Jade murmured quietly but I kept my eyes on the white carpet under my feet, "I wouldn't blame you."

I shrugged weakly. "I don't… know what I want right now."

"That's okay. You don't have to. It's fine."

Tears were welling up again when I realized that this was really it. There was nothing that I could do to change her mind or to convince her that breaking up wasn't the right decision. I tightly bit my teeth together when I heard Jade call my name, fighting my tears as Jade sighed. "I really thought that I was over him and… you were so great. I mean you're Tori," she said with a light laugh, "You deserve so much better. And I wish I could give it to you but I just… I can't, at least not right now. Even if I want to, so badly, Tori. You have no idea."

"Yeah. I know, it's fine."

"No, it's not. I know how it feels to be broken up with. It's not nice. It sucks big time."

"Yeah. It does," I whimpered pathetically and let a sob ripple through my throat, which caused Jade's arms to immediately envelope me into a warm hug. I buried my face in the crook of her neck while she just held me, fingers rubbing up and down my spine in the way I liked it. When the tears finally grew less and less, I angled my face so that my cheek was pressed against her shoulder and my eyes were fixed on my dresser.

"I just don't want to lose you again."

I sniffled into her shoulder and felt Jade's arms tighten around me.

"You won't lose me. I'm not gonna let that happen."

I took a deep breath before I asked, "So, we can still see each other?"

A sigh reached my ears. "You're my best friend, Tori. Of course we can still see each other."

I nodded, closed my eyes and felt a small wave of relief flood through my body. It was one thing not being able to be with her the way I wanted to but another to lose my best friend. My mom had been right yesterday, Jade was the person I cared for the most and the mere thought of losing her, of not seeing her, not talking to her… was simply the most painful thing. No matter what happened or what would happen in the future, if she and I would end up together or not, she would always stay the most important person in my life.

"I love you, Jade."

"Love you too, Tor."

That was all I could do. Accept the love she had to offer even if that wasn't the kind of love I yearned for.


	17. Seventeen

Spending time with my best friend was a rare thing these days.

Wasn't that weird? My best friend… and I saw less and less of her. Of course we still saw each other at school every day and we still talked but… nothing was the way it should be anymore. I tried to repress my feelings for her. I tried to repress the memories of our kisses. I tried to forget how in love I was with her. But I couldn't. Even though she was so great and gave me time when I needed it, laid off of me when she sensed it got a little bit too much. I just couldn't change the way I felt for her.

Since Jade and I were spending noticeably less time together, I started to hang out more with the rest of the group, which was great too, of course. Well, aside from Beck. Since the almost kiss I tried to avoid being alone with him as much as I could. Sure, he hadn't mentioned it anymore, not even when we were alone to finish our script, but who knew what went on in that little horny mind of his.

Most of my time was spent with Andre now. Seriously, I adored this guy. In the span of only two weeks, he grew to be my closest friend (not counting Jade of course). We laughed, we made music together and could talk to each other without holding back. I had considered telling him about Jade. About our past. About… the present. But then I thought about who exactly I would be telling this to: Jade's friend and more importantly, Beck's best friend. I didn't think Jade would appreciate it much if Beck somehow found out what his ex-girlfriend did after their break up or rather… with who she did it. Sure, Andre probably wouldn't tell him if I asked him not to. But better not risk it.

I rested my chin in the palm of my hand and let my gaze sweep over the Asphalt Café. Maybe I should look for someone else. Not someone who would replace Jade, because that was absolutely impossible, but just someone who could take my mind off of her. Maybe if I started seeing someone else the situation between Jade and me would ease a little. Maybe that was simply what I needed to do. But then there was another open question. What was I looking for?

Boy or girl?

Was I gay? I still didn't know. I didn't need to know. I knew who I wanted. Jade. Always Jade. _No, stop it!_ I sat up straight with a determined frown on my face. I would stop thinking about Jade now and look for someone who'd catch my eye. Be it a male or female, darn it! I didn't care!

But my determination began to dissolve bit by bit as I looked around, the frown soon getting replaced by a pout.

She was too skinny.

That guy over there was too tall.

Brown eyes… Jade's were way prettier.

Her hair was too short.

I didn't like his t-shirt.

Oh my God. How was I supposed to find a boyfriend or girlfriend if all I was doing was find small, _stupid_ things to criticize? I couldn't seriously pick someone by their choice of clothing or what color their eyes were. Maybe they were really nice. I should at least try a little harder. But nothing would change. Because they all had one thing in common:

They weren't Jade.

"Hey muchacha."

"Hi Toriii!"

"What's up Tori-badoo?"

I forced a smile as Robbie, Andre and Cat all took a seat around me.

"Hey guys."

Oh. And there was Beck too. Yay. The tables all around me got fuller and fuller by every minute but at our table, one seat stayed empty. My eyes dropped to my untouched cheeseburger while I only half-listened to the conversation about Cat's brother around the table. "But why did he _do_ that?"

"Because he was hungry."

"Girl, I'm hungry. Do you see me eating a screw?"

"No. But you have your sandwich right in front of you. Why would you want to eat a screw?"

Before I knew what I was doing, I stood up and swung my purse over my shoulder. It momentarily stole Andre's attention away from Cat. "Where are you going?"

"I'm… I'm just going to my locker real quick. I forgot something."

I sent him a smile before I took off, only to run straight into someone as I was passing the Grub Truck. When I looked up, my lip immediately slid in between my teeth. "Oh. Sorry."

Jade shrugged. "Not a problem."

I didn't know what else to say so I simply nodded and went past her without a look back. Why couldn't my heart do that when I looked at someone else? That weird flip before it accelerated and my entire body suddenly seemed to tingle. God, _why_ Jade? It was so unfair. Instead of going to my locker like I had told Andre, I slipped into the first empty room I found, which just so happened to be the music room on the second floor. My eyes immediately found the huge piano on the right side of the room; light blue with '_Hollywood Arts' _painted on it in yellow, purple and red. With my lip between my teeth I slowly trudged over and sank down onto the black bench.

I let out a quiet breath as I tried to remember which keys I needed to push first, cringing when a not so pleasurable sound ruined the song a few notes in. "Oooh, well that didn't sound good."

A small smile appeared on my lips at the teasing voice but I didn't turn around and instead carefully listened to the quiet steps that slowly approached me. Only when those heavy boots stopped right next to me did I lift my head and met my favorite pair of eyes. Jade's smile grew faint after a couple of seconds, her thumb slipping under the strap of her bag to adjust it on her shoulder. "Mind some company?" I shook my head and patted the free space on my left. "You can say if you do, I don't need t-"

"Jade…" She shut up as soon as I reached up and grabbed her arm to pull her down next to me, and got comfortable on the bench. We stayed in a comfortable silence for a couple of minutes, with Jade pushing down a random key once in a while, and me watching her do it. Then, she sighed.

"So, why are you here all by your lonesome? Have enough already of Cat babbling about her brother?"

I glanced up at her for a short moment. Her eyes had a curious twinkle in them as she looked at me. I chuckled, shook my head and looked back down. "No. I don't know, I guess… I just wanted to have a little peace and quiet."

A hum sounded from beside me. "Or," she started carefully, "do you have enough of _me_?"

Her tone made me freeze all over. Of course the whole situation didn't just affect me, it affected Jade just as much. I wished, so badly, that I could just get over myself and appreciate Jade as my best friend. But every time I see or talk to her I was reminded of how different we felt for each other. She was the girl I was in love with. I was simply her best friend. That hurt more than I had originally thought and I knew Jade knew that too.

"I don't have enough of you. Don't think that."

"Kay…"

This was getting so awkward. It was always so easy and… totally carefree between us and now everything was all tense and uncomfortable and _wrong_. Every word had to be thought over twice before I could even attempt to say it out loud, if I actually found the courage to talk to Jade. And I knew Jade felt the same way. I noticed the way she would watch me carefully for a few seconds before she'd start talking to me. Or that small pause she made before or while she asked a question. It was all wrong. I hated it. Jade slowly got up from the bench but left her bag sitting on the floor. I attentively watched her walk around the side of the big piano, her hand brushing over the smooth surface. She wasn't looking at me when I looked up into her face. "What are you doing this afternoon?"

Almost desperately I wished she would look at me but her eyes stayed on her hand that was still brushing over the piano. "I don't know. Nothing, I guess."

"Cat and I…" There it was, that little pause, "-are going to Karaoke Dokie after school. Do you wanna come with us?"

_To make it even more awkward between us? _"No, I don't think that would be a good idea."

Jade nodded. She turned her face away from me. My heart broke a little more. "I see…"

"I'm sorry,-"

"No, no. It's cool. I just thought having Cat as some kind of buffer…" A loud breath ended her sentence as she shook her head and lifted her hand from the piano, making a small gesture with it. "I know it's… not that easy. That's fine. I just… miss you a little."

I missed her too. So much. I missed how much fun we always had, how she'd make me laugh until my stomach ached. I missed those creepy horror movies she would make me watch. I even missed the way she would purposefully make me blush, how she'd tease me endlessly about it, her stupid innuendos… I just missed my best friend.

"Why can't it just be easy?" I asked and watched her sigh before she sat down beside me again. Her eyes were anywhere but on me and I wondered if it would ever be normal between us again.

"Maybe one day it will be easy," she muttered while she let her fingers brush over the piano keys, "Until then we just have to… hold on."

"And how long do you think it will take?"

She glanced up at me. I could see that she was just as clueless as me. "I have no idea, Tor." The next few minutes neither one of us said anything which was a more and more frequent occurrence in the last two weeks. At last, I heard Jade take in a deep breath next to me. "When I was in San Francisco I used to sneak out of the house really late at night. I would go to this playground a little down the street and just… sit on the swings. I always did that when… I had one of those nights. Where I could think about nothing but you." She lifted her eyes from the black and white keys, looked at me for a moment, then let her gaze drop to my lap. I kept watching her, listening attentively. "I wondered if it was the right thing to do, not calling you anymore and stuff. Because it… still hurt so much. No twelve year old should ever feel like I did. It was like you were some vital part of me and my mom just ripped it out of my body."

I knew what she meant. I had felt the same way.

"And now… now I'm scared that this is going to happen again. Just because I was being stupid."

"It won't," I said without even thinking about it. Only when her eyes snapped up to mine did I really realize what I had said. How could I know that it wouldn't happen again? If I wasn't able to turn my feelings off and Jade would never feel the same way about me… what would happen to us? "I mean… it can't happen."

Jade chuckled humorlessly. "It can't. But maybe it will."

There was nothing I could say. She could be right… and that hurt more than anything ever could. I swallowed the bad feeling down for the moment and simply tried to forget this stupid situation we found ourselves in and pretended that we were kids again. We were two girls, best friends, without feelings coming in the way to complicate everything. Breathing out a sigh, I shuffled closer to Jade and rested my head on her shoulder. My eyes closed when I felt the light weight of Jade's own head pressing against mine and she too released a small sigh. We sat like that for a while until the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. But neither of us moved, even though we both had classes to attend. Whatever. School could wait for just a few moments more. But when I heard the muffled sounds of mumbling students, shrill laughs and quick steps outside in the hall, I realized the position we were in and how weird it must look to people if they'd walked in now and saw me leaning against 'the wicked witch of Hollywood Arts', Jade West.

"We should… People could walk in." Despite my words I made no move to lift my head from Jade's shoulder. As an answer, Jade brushed her nose against the top of my head.

"Fuck it."

"Jade," I warningly said, but couldn't keep my grin hidden at the fact that she didn't care. She didn't care that anyone could walk in at any second. She didn't care to let people know that she was friends with Tori Vega.

"Shhh."

I laughed softly before we both fell silent while the noise outside in the halls gradually died down. When almost nothing was heard anymore, Jade lifted her head from mine and shifted a little on the bench. "What were you trying to play earlier?" Before I could answer her she placed her hand on top of the keys and began playing the all too familiar tune, more beautiful than I could have had ever done. "Could it have been this?" she teasingly mumbled into my ear, her fingers still hitting every note perfectly.

"I couldn't remember where to place my fingers anymore," I muttered into her shoulder with a small smile on my face. It dropped however as Jade abruptly stopped. Frowning, I lifted my head.

"Seriously? I was such a crappy teacher? That really hurts my pride."

I let out a small laugh at the mock hurt on her face. "It was a long time ago."

"No it wasn't," Jade scoffed, "You act like you're some kind of grandma already."

"I was _nine_ when you taught me!"

"And now you're sixteen. You should still be able to play it. _I _can still play it. What does that tell me? That you didn't practice at all."

My mouth dropped. "But-"

"No buts, Vega. There are no excuses. You have a freaking piano standing in your living room, which was probably just begging you to play on it. But your lazy butt simply didn't do it."

"I'm not lazy," I laughed. Man, how much I had missed being with Jade like that.

"Sure you are."

"Am not!"

"Really? We're going to do this?" I mimicked the smirk she was sending me and held her sparkling gaze. After a few seconds she raised her eyebrows, shook her head and turned toward the piano. "Good then. I'm going to teach you again. And I swear, if you can't play it seven years from now, I am personally going to kick your-"

"Ah, ah, ah, ah!"

She turned to glare at me. "I was going to say butt."

I smirked at her knowingly. "Uh huh."

"Whatever," she chuckled and turned back to the keys, "Pay attention, lazybones."

This was the way it should be. I wished it could always be like this, so easy, so normal. But I knew it probably wouldn't last very long.


	18. Eighteen

"I'm _so_ sorry, I'm so clumsy sometimes!"

"It's fine, don't worry. It's just coffee."

"Yeah, but… now there's a stain and it's probably all wet and uncomfortable and-"

"It's not that bad. And believe it or not, we have a washing machine at home. It's gonna show that stain who's boss."

I stopped trying to rub the coffee out of the denim and looked up into light blue eyes. Into really pretty light blue eyes. "I'm still really sorry."

Those pretty eyes twinkled brightly and lit up as the owner of them smiled at me. "Don't be. My leg might just have been burned but that's a pain I have to take." I returned his smile before I collected the soaked tissues I used to clean up the mess, along with the now empty plastic cup, and stood up to toss them into the trash can located in the far corner of the room. "But if you're really sorry there might be something you could do to make the pain a little bit better."

I turned back toward the boy sitting in front of the keyboard, who now had a cheeky grin on his face. I chuckled and walked back to my seat next to him. "Which would be?"

"Go out with me."

I smiled weakly. "Noel-"

"Oh, please. Just one tiny date. If you don't like it you're allowed to run away whenever you please."

My eyes dropped from his hopeful face into my lap. I met Noel a couple of weeks ago, when Andre and I were working on a new song he needed for his songwriting class. He asked me to sing it for him so that he could play it in front of the class. I agreed and so I had sat in the little recording booth in the very same room I was sitting in now, when Noel came strolling in. He was a really, really handsome guy; dark hair, blue eyes and a smile to die for. As if he wasn't already perfect enough, he was also one of the nicest boys I've ever met, funny and just plain wonderful. He was a good friend of Andre's, played the drums and also attended Hollywood Arts. I wondered how I had never noticed him before.

Anyway, we clicked right away. Actually, he was the reason I was feeling better lately. The atmosphere between me and Jade was still tense. Of course there were moments where it seemed like everything could go back to normal, like that one time when we skipped class and she taught me how to play 'You Are My Sunshine' again. But those moments were just that. Moments. The next day, everything was back to its usual awkward way.

But thankfully, it started to ease up, slowly but steadily. I still couldn't forget how I felt for her, of course I couldn't. But thanks to Noel… everything got easier to deal with. He took my mind off of Jade when I needed it. He made me laugh when I really didn't feel like it. I was so happy I had met him.

The downside however… was that he really wanted to take me out on a date.

"But… Noel, I can't."

"Why is that?" He rested his elbows on his knees and leaned forward. "You always say no and I don't even know why. What is it, Tori?" I couldn't bring myself to go out with him. It was so weird and… I didn't have feelings for him. Wasn't that a bad thing to do, go out with someone, getting their hopes up only to reject them the day after the date? But it wasn't as if I could just go right out and _tell_ him. That would be kind of rude. "Am I not meeting your expectations?"

He smiled, and ugh, he looked so cute but I just didn't _feel_ anything! "No, you're… you're great. It's just-"

"I'm not handsome enough."

"No," I laughed, shaking my head. "That's not it. I just don't think… it would be a good idea."

"But you ruined my jeans," he said and pointed to his right leg where the blue denim had a huge dark stain on it. I smiled and rolled my eyes. "Who knows, maybe it will never wash out. This was my favorite pair."

I narrowed my eyes at him and as much as I tried, couldn't keep the smile off of my face. "No, it wasn't."

"How do you know?"

"Because you're just saying that to make me feel bad and make me say yes to a date."

"And is it working?"

And there it was again, that hopeful smile on his lips. _Jeez Tori, just say yes. He's not asking for your hand in marriage. It's just a date. A date is a good thing._ "Well… what would we be doing?"

The grin that replaced his smile was causing my lips to stretch into one too. "Whatever you want. Oh, there's a carnival this weekend! How does that sound?"

"Sounds great."

"Friday then?"

His eyes twinkled with excitement. I'd like to think mine did too.

"Friday."

_**-OS&SD-**_

It was Friday morning when Jade appeared at my locker while I was looking for my triangle, arms crossed and face blank. "Hey," she muttered as she ran her tongue over her lips and leaned against the locker next to mine. I turned toward her with a grin on my face. We hadn't seen much of each other the last two weeks. She had been incredibly busy with that play she had auditioned for _weeks_ ago, and now, Mr. Gradsteen was finally putting it up. Jade had gotten the lead – not really surprising, after all she's crazily talented – and was preoccupied with rehearsals and costume fittings and whatever else came up.

"Hey! How is the play coming along?"

She shrugged. "Fine, I guess. It's opening night next week."

"That's great," I chirped happily and continued to look for my triangle. It had to be somewhere here…

"So."

Shifting my attention away from my locker I waited for her to continue. But all Jade did was stare at me with one eyebrow cocked and… I really had no clue what she wanted from me. "So?"

"There's a little rumor spreading around."

"What? About me?"

"Yep."

A rumor? What could it be? I didn't do anything scandalous… did I? With every second that Jade stayed quiet the ball of worry inside of me got bigger and bigger. "Well, what is it?"

"You and Noel Davis."

A breath left me as I relaxed. Way to make me question my entire existence. But it seemed as if Jade really was serious about this, the accusing tone she used coupled with the frown on her face leaving no room for humor. "That's not a rumor," I told her, shook my head and leaned against my open locker, "Let me guess. Cat told you?"

"Andre."

"Oh." I pushed myself off of my locker and turned back to digging around in it, although I completely forgot what I was searching for in the first place. Jade stayed next to me, eyeing me in an almost incredulous fashion. What was it now? Before I could ask what I could have possibly done wrong for her to send me that look, she stood up straight, arms still crossed and the look turning into one of… anger, almost.

Or no. It was definitely more sulky than angry, the way she stood there.

"Well, and why do I find out about this through Andre? Why didn't you tell me?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I just didn't have the chance to tell you yet." It wasn't even a lie. I really hadn't thought about telling Jade. Must have had slipped my mind. But I couldn't help but enjoy, even just a little bit, how worked up she got over that.

"Don't you think I should be the first one to know?" she demanded and made my eyebrows furrow.

"Why?"

"Because I'm your best friend!" The guy that was passing us stopped for a short moment at Jade's outburst. I glanced at him, while Jade's gaze stayed firmly on me, and watched as his eyes flicked from Jade to me. Wow, he acted like me and Jade being friends was some kind of legendary discovery. After a few seconds of that dude's curious staring, Jade finally acknowledged him in… typical 'Jade fashion'. "Stop gawking at us! Scram before I introduce you to my scissors!"

He scrambled away as fast as he could, almost running into a wall as he ran around a corner. I shook my head and turned back to my locker. "Yeah, but… it's not that easy at the moment as you know."

"Oh, and that means that you can't tell me what's happening in your life anymore?"

"No, I told you I didn't come around to telling you yet."

"And I'm supposed to believe that?"

"Yes!"

"Well, I don't."

"Why would I lie to you?"

"I don't know, you tell me!"

Closing my eyes for a second, I took in a calming breath. God, she could drive me _insane_ sometimes! "Jade," I started quietly while trying to stay as calm as possible. My eyes stayed locked on hers as I continued. "Stop that. I'm not lying and you accusing me of that makes me want to seriously hurt you right now."

Her glare must have looked frightening to anybody else but to me it just looked like seven-year old Jade's angry look she'd sent her mom whenever she wouldn't let her eat a cookie before dinner. She was throwing a tantrum right now and really, could I really take her seriously when she did that? The answer was no. "Fine," she pushed out although her glare did not lessen, "I believe you."

"Good." Ah! My triangle, that was what I was looking for!

"But I don't think you should go out with him."

My hand froze while pushing various books out of the way. "Why, what's wrong with him?"

"Nothing's _wrong_ with him," she explained, "I just think that… you know…"

I raised my eyebrows in curiosity. "Yes?"

"I think that… that… you two don't click."

"We don't click?" I chuckled and continued my search for my triangle. "How do you figure?"

"I don't know. It's a feeling I have."

"Well… we do click, don't you worry about that." Ha, there it was! "I'm going to go out with him."

"Okay then… have fun."

My eyebrows furrowed a little at the high tone of her voice. After I put the little object I needed for my math class into my bag, I closed my locker and sent Jade a smile. "Thanks. I will." I couldn't really place that look on her face. The little crease on her forehead. The way her lips were pursed. It looked almost as if she was- No. _Stop getting your hopes up, Tori._ Why would she get jealous? I wasn't Beck, after all. I was just Tori. "Well, um… I'll definitely be there. On opening night I mean."

"Oh…" Jade nodded. "Great. Thanks."

She left then, mumbling that she had to get to class, and left me wondering what exactly the look on her face meant.

_Maybe she was jealous, after all._

_**-OS&SD-**_

"Are you sure you're okay?"

I couldn't help but laugh at the greenish tint Noel's skin had taken on, the way his eyebrows were raised as he tried to fight the dizziness that swirled through his brain. I spotted an empty bench and quickly proceeded to place his arm over my shoulder so that he wouldn't fall over. Apparently we went on one too many rides. "I'm… fine," he muttered as he almost fell sideways over the bench, hadn't I had held on to him. "Just… a little dizzy."

"Just dizzy? You look a little green too."

I smirked as he pushed out a deep breath. "How embarrassing would it be if I'd throw up now? No, I'm fine."

"If you have to let it out," I said, ruffling his hair, "I'll hold back your hair."

"Ha ha." He made a face at me before letting out a laugh. "Oh God, I'm such a wimp."

"Nonsense. You just have a weak stomach."

He pushed out a grunt, placed his hands on his stomach and leaned his head back. We were quiet for a moment, the blinking, flashing and bright colorful lights lighting up the dark sky as music and chatter floated through the mild air. I thought back to the first carnival I had ever been to. I was seven and Jade had just turned eight a couple of days ago, so my dad took us both out to celebrate. She had been so scared when we took a ride on the ferris wheel that she had gripped my hand so tightly that I was sure my blood circulation was cut off, not letting go before our feet were on solid ground again. I wondered if she was still scared of heights.

"This isn't going to work, huh?"

Noel's voice brought me back into the present, back to our _date_. Oh my God, I just completely spaced out and thought about Jade during our date! What kind of person was I? "What did you say?"

He smiled at me, – oh, he shouldn't smile at me like that. I felt bad enough already. – tilted his head to the side and shrugged his shoulders. At least his skin didn't look green anymore. "I'm not really boyfriend material for you, am I?"

Oh man. "I…" I wanted to disagree with him but what would that do? He felt something was off. "I'm sorry, it's… You're so great but… you know, more as a friend."

I was relieved when he didn't look too disappointed. "Mhm. I noticed that. So who is it?"

"What? Who is what?"

"Who's occupying your mind? You always smile like… you're thinking of someone. So who's the lucky dude? What's his name?"

I looked down as I answered. "Actually… it's _her _name."

I wondered what he would think of me now. I didn't have to wait long to find out. "Oh. Then what's _her_ name?"

A little surprised – why was I so surprised? What did I expect him to do? – I looked up from the ground and into Noel's face. He smiled encouragingly which was all I needed for Jade's name to slip out of my mouth.

"Jade… West?" Nodding, I tried not to let the short silence that followed get to me. At last he nodded and twisted his body more toward me. "Well, I have to say… your taste in girls is excellent. She's really pretty."

He winked at me and grinned at the laugh that left my mouth. "Thanks, I guess."

"But she's kind of… standoffish. I'd say tough luck with getting on her good side."

"I actually am on her good side already."

And that was it. I told him everything, and I mean _everything_, on the sidelines of a busy carnival. He listened, stayed quiet and let me vent and man, did that feel good. It felt as if a huge stone was lifted from my shoulders, it just felt so freaking _good _ to talk about everything, to just… let it all out. "So that's why you always said no."

"Yep."

He was quiet for a moment and looked at something in front of him before he turned back to me. "You want to know what I think?"

"Sure."

"I think Jade would be incredibly stupid if she won't come around. You're way better than that ex-boyfriend of hers."

I laughed. "You can't say that. You don't really know Beck."

"I know enough of him," he countered, glancing at me before looking ahead again. "But you know… I think she will. Come around, I mean."

"Yeah? How do you know?"

He shrugged. "Just a feeling. I may have a weak stomach but my gut instinct is almost always right."

Huh. I could only hope he was right.


	19. Nineteen

_Happy early birthday, wikster! ;)_

* * *

"Hey there, pretty thing."

I turned my head to see a single blue eye peer at me from behind my open locker door and smiled as I took a step back to properly look at Noel. "Good morning."

"Morning," he said and moved to my left side, "How was your weekend?"

"Good. Cat and I had a sleepover."

"Yeah! I saw the new video on The Slap." He laughed to which I joined in.

"Yeah. We tend to go a little crazy together."

"Oh, well it's very entertaining," he said with a shrug before he took a look around the hall. I frowned in confusion when he took a step closer to me, crossed his arms and leaned his shoulder against the locker wall as he leaned his body a little toward me. "So listen, I have an idea."

"Okay…"

He was just about to open his mouth when two loud voices – and I could recognize those voices _anywhere _– brought both of our heads to snap toward the entry. "I'm going to freaking _kill_ you, Vega!"

"I didn't even do anything! It's not my fault that you're too clumsy for your own good!"

"You knocked my coffee out of my hand because you're too stupid to walk straight!" That's when the doors burst open and in stormed a really angry looking Jade and an equally upset Trina. Jade's eyes dropped to Trina's feet, her eyebrows creasing. "What kind of person would even be so brain-dead to wear those shoes?" I actually couldn't agree more with her. They were ridiculously high, making my sister tower over almost everyone. She already almost fell down the stairs this morning, tripped several times on the way to her car and almost fell over when she got out of the car in the school's parking lot. I was surprised she hadn't broken her neck yet.

"_Stylish_ people," Trina shot back loudly, "Of course _you_ wouldn't know anything about that."

Jade's scowl got deeper as she got ready to retort, probably something very nasty. But then her eyes met mine. Her face relaxed slightly but when her gaze moved to my left seconds later and she noticed Noel, it took on that same look I saw on Friday morning. "Anyway, I'm definitely not going to buy you a new-"

"Yeah, whatever," Jade mumbled dismissively, not even caring that Trina just walked away from her, as her eyes moved back to me. She didn't return the smile I sent her and instead turned her back to get to her locker.

"Okay, this is perfect." I blinked and moved my gaze back towards Noel.

"What?"

"Is she looking right now?"

My eyebrows furrowed as I – not so subtly – looked over to Jade's locker to see her glance at me before she quickly averted her gaze. Turning back to Noel, I lightly nodded my head. "Yeah, why?"

"Don't look at me like that, you have to smile for it to work."

"What? For what to work?"

"Did you know that they have square watermelons in Japan?"

My furrowed eyebrows shot up at his random statement. "Really?"

"Ants stretch and yawn when they wake up in the morning."

"They do?" Wow. I didn't know that. "But what does that have to do with waterme-"

"Some turtles can breathe through their butt."

I laughed softly. "What?"

There was a loud bang across the hall. When I looked up I saw Jade stalking toward me but instead of stopping she walked right past me, but not without sending both Noel and me a glare. I turned to watch her round the corner and heard a loud 'Out of my way!' followed by a small squeak before a frightened brunette rushed past us. "I knew it."

At Noel's chuckle I shifted my attention back to him. "What just happened?"

"You're kidding, right?" I raised my eyebrows. I didn't know what he was talking about. "She's so jealous, Tori. Can't you see?"

Oh. But… that couldn't be. She probably was still angry because of what happened with Trina. She couldn't be jealous. "You think so?"

"I think instead of making crazy videos with Cat you should have gotten some sleep," he teased and raised his eyebrows. "It's obvious that she is. Aren't girls usually more attentive to those things? Or are you just in denial?"

But if Noel was really convinced that Jade _was_ jealous then… maybe she really was. I mean, why would he say that if he wasn't absolutely positive? "Well… I'm just… not sure."

"You can be. But to convince you… I'm going to tell you about my idea."

I took a deep breath. "Okay."

"So, if she already is that worked up when you only went on _one_ date with me… then how do you think she'll react when she thinks I'm your boyfriend?"

"You-" I took a careful look around the hall before I asked in a hushed voice, "You want us to pretend we are a couple?"

"Yes," he said as if that was the most normal thing to do, "Just until Jade realizes she's being stupid. And honestly, I don't think that will take long considering that death glare she sent my way just because I was talking to you."

I thought about it for a moment. That could actually work… but wait. She would realize something was off. I wasn't that good of an actress, I really couldn't fool _Jade_. Plus, I'd be lying to her. I mean… that was considered lying, right? Oh, my head hurt. "No, I… I can't do that. I don't want to lie to her."

"Hm, I see…" Noel was quiet for a few seconds, frown on his face. "Well then… would you like to eat lunch with me today?"

I narrowed my eyes at the smirk on his face. "Why?" I slowly asked, watching as that little mischievous twinkle I often saw in Jade's eyes now appeared in Noel's.

"You'll see."

_**-OS&SD-**_

"She's fuming."

"Is she really?"

"Oh yes. I'm feeling very sorry for that burrito in her hand."

"What do y-"

"_Don't_ turn around!"

"Okay, okay. Sorry."

I breathed out a sigh while I looked at Noel. He was sitting directly across from me with a perfect view on my usual table, today occupied by only Jade, Cat, Robbie and Beck, since I had lunch with Noel and Andre was out sick. With my back to them, I couldn't see a single thing but considering Noel's satisfied smile, I'd say his plan to make Jade jealous worked out pretty well. I couldn't help but smile at the thought of how angry it made her that I wasn't sitting with her, but with Noel. The mental image of her squeezing her burrito was enough to make my smile widen.

"You know, it really shouldn't make me so happy that Jade is mad."

"And yet it does," Noel said and shot another subtle glance at Jade, while popping a French fry into his mouth. "Let's go one step further."

"By doing what?"

Instead of answering me, he simply grabbed a fry from his plate and held it in front of my mouth. I didn't hesitate and used my mouth to pluck it out of his fingers. I grinned when I could hear a horrified gasp behind me.

"Jade! You killed your burrito!"

Oh, Cat. Noel's laugh seemed to worsen Jade's mood because the next thing I heard was:

"Oh! And now you got sauce into my eye!"

"Yeah, sorry. Here's a napkin, deal with it."

"Hey," I heard Beck gently say. I actually resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "What's up with you today? Relax."

"_You_ don't get to tell me what to do."

When I got a glimpse of Jade storming into the school building, completely _inflamed _with rage, let me tell you, I wholeheartedly returned Noel's grin and accepted his high five.

The game was _so_ on.

_**-OS&SD-**_

It turned out to be torturous three days for Jade.

And wow, did I enjoy it.

Immensely, actually.

The only downside was that everyone around her had to put up with her sour mood but eh… it was _so_ worth it. Noel and I were using the lunch period to really get to her, although we used every chance we got to get under her skin. And it worked _perfectly_. Which surprised me a little bit since we really didn't act like boyfriend and girlfriend. The farthest we went was a hug, other than that there was nothing really 'couple-y' about us. Still, Jade seemed to think that was exactly what we were. A couple.

"Oh great! _Noel_ again."

Noel and I exchanged a look before we sat down next to each other right across from Jade, making sure not to acknowledge the glare she sent our way. Andre, sitting on my right, looked at Jade with a furrowed brow before shifting his eyes to us. He didn't say anything though. Cat looked immensely worried and carefully reached for her soda can while eyeing Jade, tightly pressing it to her stomach. We had a little bit of a… sticky situation yesterday, involving lemon soda and Noel's body being almost completely drenched in it. I guess Cat was just trying to keep today a little bit cleaner.

"Oh man, I wonder what the green-eyed monster has up her sleeve today," Rex broke the tense silence around our table, getting ready to say something else which we couldn't understand as a horrified Robbie slapped his hand over his mouth. Noel's knee nudged mine under the table but before I could do what we had planned, my attention was captured by Cat's voice.

"Green? I think Jade's eyes are more like a blue or grey." The redhead leaned her head close to Jade's, their noses almost brushing as she intently observed the color of Jade's eyes. "Oh! I think there _is_ a little green in there!"

"If you don't get your head away from mine in two seconds," Jade growled, "you're going to have a fork stuck in your neck."

Cat flew back to her seat with a loud squeak and quickly proceeded to press herself tightly to Robbie. Which wasn't really that smart because, well I didn't think Robbie would be able to protect anyone from Jade since-

Okay, I was losing the thread.

So anyway, as I watched Jade murdering her salad with the same fork she just threatened Cat with, I shuffled closer to Noel, his arm loosely wrapping around my waist. "You don't have to threaten Cat," Beck quietly murmured to Jade, but loud enough for all of us to hear. "That's not nice."

"Shut up, Beck."

Oh, and did I mention that she was taking her bad mood out on Beck? I loved it. "So," I happily spoke up, which caused Jade's eyes to lift from her salad. Her shoulders visibly tensed when she noticed Noel's arm around me. "Jade! Are you excited for your play on Friday?"

"Sure am," she muttered darkly which made it very hard to keep my smirk hidden.

"I'm sure you're going to be excellent. When is it starting again? I want to make sure I'm there on time."

"You know what?" My eyebrows dug down as I watched her stand up, grab her salad and bag before she turned to me with pursed lips. "Don't bother coming."

She stormed into the school then and with a worried look back at Noel, I quickly followed her.

Maybe we went a little too far.

_**-OS&SD-**_

I looked through the narrow window in the door of Sikowitz's classroom and frowned as I watched Jade plop down in a seat, bag carelessly thrown onto the floor next to her. I stayed outside and watched her for a few minutes as she simply sat there before I slowly pushed the handle down, stepped in, and closed the door behind me.

"If there isn't someone a little grumpy today," I quietly spoke, alerting her of my presence. She didn't turn nor did she give me any sign if she wanted me here or not. I stepped up behind her and gently swung my arms over her shoulders, my hands locking in front of her body. I frowned when she tried to shrug me off. Instead of stepping back I did the opposite she wanted me to do, using my arms to pull her back against me. "What's wrong?"

She stopped squirming after a second or two, then snapped at me, "Don't act like you don't know."

_Yeah. I think I do._ "I don't."

"Yeah," she scoffed, leaning forward for a short moment before letting herself collide back into me. "Of course you don't."

I sighed. I _did_ know. _"She's so jealous, Tori. Can't you see?"_ So… Noel really was right. I swallowed and ran my tongue over my lips. "You're like that because of Noel?" The silence that followed was answer enough for me. I was so glad she wasn't facing me right now, or she would have probably slapped the huge smile off of my face. _Take that, Beck. She's jealous, ha!_ I quickly put on a blank expression as to not give away how happy that made me as I said, "Jade, he makes me happy."

"Yeah well, good for you! But you don't have to rub it in at every opportunity you get!"

"I'm not-"

"I get it. First Beck, now you. I'm easily replaceable. Wonderful. But seriously, I don't need to be reminded of that every second of the day!"

What? "Jade…"

She broke out of my hold, shot up from her seat and shook off my hand as I tried to hold her back. "Leave me alone, Tori."

I should have followed her, reassured her that she, in fact, wasn't replaceable.

But I just stood there, completely perplexed and without a clue what I was supposed to do now.

What did just happen?

* * *

_A/N: DCDesigns: Great rendition of the song. For the scene where 'grown up' Jade teaches Tori, I listened to this: _

_watch?v=FSNV-A1xJBs_

_Really fitted the mood I wanted to have._

_Nazzen: I did actually picture him! It's always easier for me to write something if I can really picture the people, so I mostly choose real people. I thought of the name Noel and immediately... Brant Daugherty popped into my head._


	20. Twenty

"_Has she called you back yet?"_

I sighed and tucked the phone between my ear and shoulder. "No. But I don't think that's something I should worry about. It's just Jade being Jade. She probably needed time to cool off."

Noel yawned on the other end of the line. _"Hm, if you say so. But I kinda feel sorry for her," _he said while I stuffed my notebook into my purse. _"I mean, if she really feels like she's being replaced-"_

"She's _not_ getting replaced," I interrupted him and stopped for a moment. "I wouldn't do that."

"_I know you wouldn't. But maybe it seems like that to her. Beck wanted to move on with you, you allegedly moved on with me… And then there's still her dad."_

I frowned. What did he have to do with anything? "Her dad?"

"_Yeah, well… he remarried, didn't he? So she's probably feeling _replaced _there too. Plus, according to popular belief Jade doesn't really get along with her father that well. So… I don't know, just a guess."_

He did have a point. I grabbed the phone from between my shoulder and ear while I stood up from my crouched position and sat on the edge of my bed. "Okay then, Mr. Psychologist. Whatever, I'll just talk to her today. Just to clear things up."

There was a short pause. _"Clear _everything_ up? Or just that you don't want to replace her in any way?"_

"Not everything," I said simply. I wouldn't make it _that _easy on her. "Just the last bit."

"_Okay. So, I have to go now. See you in school."_

"Kay. See you later, Noel."

I sighed and took a look at the clock on my phone. I should probably get ready too if I didn't want to be late. I slowly trudged out of my room to brush my teeth and maybe get a nice shower before school but I was out of luck as both bathrooms were occupied, the one upstairs by Trina (who else?) and the downstairs one by my mom. Dad was _so_ lucky to have to be at work so early that nobody was keeping him from using the bathroom. Well, _great_. Who knew how long Trina was going to take. The only chance I'd have was my mom, but it would probably be already too late for a shower then. Already annoyed at the morning, I went back into my room and figured I shouldn't waste my time and get dressed.

After I fastened the button of my jeans I quickly pulled my pyjama top over my head and reached for a bra and a shirt before I closed the doors of my closet.

"I'm behind you, just so you know."

My eyes widened at the sudden voice _right_ behind me, a light puff of air hitting the shell of my ear. My bra fell to the floor as I whirled my body around, of course keeping the shirt in my hand to cover my chest, and immediately took a stumbling step back when I almost slammed my nose into Jade's, hadn't she moved back a little just in time. I crashed into the doors of my closet, bumped my head on the sturdy wood and the little key I could use to lock the doors (so that Trina wouldn't steal my clothes) painfully dug into my back. "God, damn it, Jade! Haven't you ever heard of knocking?!"

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise while she took a hesitant step back. "Sorry… Your mom let me in and said you'd be upstairs so I just… But I warned you." I kept the shirt pressed to my front with one hand and used the other to rub the spot where the key almost pierced through me.

"You know, thanks to you, I already know how I'm going to die! My heart will someday just give out because of all the torturous things you put me through! I'll get a heart attack and I will die and then I'll come back as a ghost to take my revenge on you! I'll make sure that your heart gets put through the same, oh yes I will! And when you die too and you become a ghost then I swear I'm going to pester the hell out of your _entire_ afterlife!"

"I… Okay…"

I sighed as my heart rate gradually started to slow down again and closed my eyes for a few seconds. Sometimes I think she did those things on purpose, just to get my blood pumping. "What are you doing here? I've tried calling you since you left yesterday."

My eyes glanced at the shirt I was holding against myself; I felt them widen as I realized that I wasn't wearing anything to cover my… two parts. "I wanted to apologize."

I momentarily forgot about my current nakedness, my eyebrows crunching together. "For what?"

"For being… stupid."

That wasn't what I had expected. Not in a _million_ years. _She_ wanted to apologize? Jade? Was this… was this real life? "Um, well that's nice but… I'm kinda… naked right now," I said with a light blush and clutched the shirt tighter to my breasts. Jade frowned and let her eyes flick down for a brief moment.

"Right, sorry." She turned around to let me dress, staying quiet the entire time. When I put my bra on and slipped my shirt over my head, I softly asked, "So, remind me, why are you being stupid again?"

"I shouldn't have… been such a bitch to you. It's great that Noel makes you happy, you deserve that. Especially after… you know." I bit my lip as she cleared her throat. "Anyway… I'm just a little oversensitive, I guess and then I exploded because I didn't know how to really handle everything. Of course you're not rubbing anything in-" Well, I kinda was… "-and while I'm not particularly Noel's biggest fan… I love that he makes you so happy."

She was still facing the window as she finished. "You can turn around again."

When she did and I got a glimpse at the sincere guilt swimming in her eyes, I slowly walked up to her and made sure to never break her gaze as I told her the next words. "You're not easily replaceable, not at all actually. It's impossible, really. Whether as a best friend or girlfriend, replacing you never works. If Beck sees it that way then he's an idiot. But I _don't_ and you shouldn't either."

She looked at me for a moment before she blinked and looked at her feet, nodding her head. "So… does that mean you forgive me?"

"There's really nothing to forgive. It's fine." Our eyes locked when she lifted her head again and her lips curved into a small smile. Jade's and Noel's eyes were so similar, I noticed in that moment, and yet they were completely different. Jade's eyes, the way they'd sometimes appear green or gray, made my heart beat so much faster. I loved her eyes. I smiled at the thought and tilted my head to the side. "You're the most important person in my life, you know that?"

"Oh, wow. Don't get sappy now."

I rolled my eyes at her but kept the smile firmly plastered on my face as I stretched my arms out. Jade hesitated for a second but by the grin that threatened to erupt and the way she eagerly wrapped her arms around my waist while mine went around her neck, I knew that she was just trying to keep her façade up. Jade loved hugs. If only just mine. "I've missed you," I sighed, referring to all the time she spent working on that play she starred in. I allowed myself to close my eyes as I breathed in Jade's familiar scent, a gentle wave of her shampoo creeping up my nose when I turned my head to subtly nuzzle my nose into her hair.

"Yeah, I was so busy," she murmured regretfully, "And that play isn't even that good. I'm glad when it's over."

"I'm sure you'll make it ten times better than it actually is."

She chuckled into my neck. "Thanks, Vega."

"So," I started slowly and pulled out of the hug. Jade's eyebrows rose as I carefully looked at her. "Am I still allowed to come? I mean, yesterday you said that-"

"That was- No, of course you can still come. If you want to. You don't have to."

"No, no, I do want to." I smiled and tried to smother the little butterflies in my stomach when Jade softly smiled back at me. _Don't ruin this now. It's perfect the way it is._

"Um, but… don't get me wrong now, I just, it's… Noel-"

"He won't be there," I reassured her quickly. I should at least give her a _little_ break. Her previously frowning face relaxed again.

"Good." She looked awfully relieved. "So, since I'm here already… you want a ride?"

I got to chose between Jade and Trina? Well, since I wanted to lower the risk of dying on my way to school, the choice was obvious, even if it hadn't been Jade. I smiled. "Sure, I'd like that."

_**-OS&SD-**_

Jade had been wrong.

The play was _amazing_. I loudly cheered as Jade and her cast mates bowed at the end of the play, before the curtains fell and the people began to get up from their seats. "Jade was so good," Cat exclaimed, her brown eyes twinkling happily.

"Yeah, and she looked so pretty in that dress," Robbie chimed in. She did look very pretty. After a while the little theater cleared out, leaving only us three standing there as we waited for Jade. But when all of her cast mates appeared from behind the stage and there still wasn't a sign of Jade, I frowned. "Hey um… I'll uh, just go and see why Jade takes so long," I said, turning to Cat and Robbie, "You two go ahead. We'll probably meet you at Nozu's."

"Kay Kay!"

I smiled and waited until they left before I made my way to the makeup room, where I knew the cast had been getting ready earlier. As I rounded the corner I gasped as I ran into a body. "I'm so- Beck?"

He smiled and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his pants. "Hey Tori. Um… I have to go."

"Oh. Yeah, sure." It wasn't like I wanted to talk to him anyway. With a sigh, I continued on my way and finally reached the room I expected Jade to be in. I rapped my knuckles against the door three quick times and waited until I heard a faint 'come in' from inside before I pushed the door open.

"Hey," I greeted softly, smiling at the sight in front of me. She was sitting in a chair, elbows propped up on the small make up table in front of her, and chin resting on top of her closed fists. She met my eyes through the mirror she was sitting in front of and sent me a smile. Tucking my bottom lip between my teeth I stepped into the room. "What are you still doing here? We were waiting for you outside."

"Why? You shouldn't have."

"Well, we needed to compliment you on your performance." I sat down on a chair I pulled up next to Jade and smiled. "You were amazing."

For a moment she was just staring at me with this… unreadable expression on her face, in her eyes raging a confusing turmoil and I wondered what could possibly be wrong. I feared that it had something to do with Beck. When she mumbled out a quiet 'thank you', her eyes dropping to the table, I voiced my thoughts out loud. "Beck was here earlier, wasn't he?" I watched her lift her head and immediately felt worry rise inside of me when I saw that troubled frown on her face. She nodded, lips pressed into a thin line. "What… did he want?"

"Just his usual bullshit."

I was tempted to ask what his 'usual bullshit' was but then I figured that I probably would only get another one of her cryptic answers anyway. So I refrained from asking and instead said, "I see. Do you want to go to Nozu with me? We could… catch up a little, you know?"

She chuckled and looked down again. "Tor…"

"What?"

When she looked up at me again, a feeling like someone was choking me evoked inside of me but as Jade would say, it was definitely the good kind of pain. I didn't know what was happening, I didn't know how it was possible for Jade to make me feel things that I had never felt before just by looking at me with her oh so pretty eyes… I just, I didn't know anything when she looked at me like that. "I really don't deserve you."

I didn't know what to respond to that. For me, Jade deserved the world and so much more but I knew other people, people who were thinking a little more realistically and weren't blinded by love, would see that a little differently. Eventually, I settled for a small smile and a shrug of my shoulder. Jade stayed quiet but smiled and nodded at my response before she let her eyes run over the black flower print dress I was wearing. "You look gorgeous."

I blushed. "Thank you." Her gaze traveled up to my face, lingering on my lips for a second before it found its way to my eyes, were it locked with an intensity that made me swallow and clear my throat. "So," I said, blinking and averting my eyes as I slowly rose from my seat. "Nozu? Or-" I didn't even have time to blink, so fast did Jade stand up from her chair. A gasp left my mouth as she moved me by my hips and gently pushed me backwards until I was caged between her and the makeup table. "Jade," I breathed, forgetting about absolutely everything as my hands came to rest on her upper arms and my eyes dropped to her lips. God, she was so close.

"You're my best friend, Tori." How often did I hear this phrase in my lifetime… but never had it ever been accompanied by a kiss. Jade's lips pressed against mine, slowly, softly, but only for a short moment before they ghosted across the corner of my mouth, down to my jaw until her nose nudged my chin up. I had no other choice but to tilt my head up to accommodate her head as her mouth began working on my neck. Her fingers tightened their hold on my hips as she languidly kissed and licked the skin just under my ear.

"Best friends don't do this," I managed to mutter, only to gasp when Jade gently bit my earlobe.

"You're so right," she murmured and pulled away to look into my eyes. I had never seen them so dark in my life. "Then I guess you're more than my best friend."

There was no time to respond, her lips crashing against mine without giving me a chance to. What the heck was happening? Should I stop this? Should I just keep going? God, it was so freaking hot here…

"Stop," I gasped when I finally found it in me to rip my lips away from Jade's. My hands squeezed her arms. "Please stop."

I refused to look into her eyes, too scared of what my actions would be, and instead focused my attention on her feet as she took a step back from me. I could hear her heavy breathing, my own chest rising and falling in a similar way as Jade's must be right now. My brows furrowed as I brushed the side of my index finger against my bottom lip. My other hand tightened on the edge of the table behind me. "What is- Why did you-"

Oh, man. Focus, Tori!

I lifted my eyes, settling on pursed lips and wide blue eyes. "You can't just… kiss me!"

"I'm… sorry?"

"Yeah, you should be!" I shook my head at her. "You can't just kiss me and say, 'Well, I guess you're more than my best friend'," I said, imitating Jade in a ridiculously deep voice that didn't resemble her actual voice at all. "It doesn't work like that!"

"Okay, I'm sorry! But I thought this is what you wanted," she defended herself, her eyes carrying so much confusion. "You wanted to be with me and now, when I finally make up my messed up mind, you back out?"

Oh my God, she was incorrigible! She was the one who _backed out_ when she told me she was still in love with Beck and now, _all of sudden _all of those feelings were gone? I didn't believe her, I _knew_ why she was doing this. "I _do_ want you! But not like this!"

"What do you mean, not like this?"

"You're just doing this because you're scared you'll lose me to Noel. You're scared that if you don't do something drastic now, I-"

"That's not true," she interrupted me, eyebrows tugging down. It was what I wanted all along. I wanted her to see that I was the better choice, that she belonged with me and not with Beck. But now, as it was happening, all I felt was… doubt. Noel's plan had obviously worked. She was jealous. She wanted to be with me. But what if she just wanted me because she didn't want Noel to have me? If she just wanted what she couldn't have? And should I really make it that easy for her? Kiss me and everything was okay again? It _wasn't_ that easy, she should work for it. But it's Jade… Ugh! Everything was just too much for me right now, it was supposed to go differently. Not like this.

God, this was so confusing! _I_ was confusing _myself_! What was wrong with me?!

"I need to go," I abruptly said and dashed for the door but stopped as soon as Jade's voice sounded.

"Right. Of course I can't compete with _Prince Charming_," she spit out, chuckling bitterly. I turned around again and found her staring at me, almost coldly. But then her features softened and I got a glimpse of the Jade I knew… and loved. "See you on Monday," she quietly mumbled to the floor after she crossed her arms and swallowed visibly.

Maybe I should have said something. But I didn't. For once in my life I wanted to be selfish.

At least now she knew how much it hurt.

* * *

_A/N: iVictorious: Well... I hope so. I just... I don't know, I put it off for so long since it's the last chapter and it's making me sad. But yeah, I'll try to get over myself as soon as possible._


	21. Twenty One

The voices of my mom and dad were muffled, I couldn't understand a single word, but still loud enough to keep me awake. I let my eyes wander over the ceiling as I tried to make out what they were yelling about now, if it was still about all those text messages they were arguing about when I came home, or if they had already moved to a different, more heavier subject.

God, I hope they hadn't.

Was my mom really cheating on my dad? I didn't thing that was possible. My parents loved each other, there was _no way_ they could ever be cheating on each other. But then… why were they still fighting so bad?

When I came home from school, still slightly shaken up from what happened with Jade, the booming voices of my parents already reached me before I could open the front door. I had furrowed my eyebrows and momentarily forgot about Jade as I walked into the house, confusion growing when everything instantly fell quiet and both of my parents snapped their attention toward me.

"What's going on?" I slowly asked while I took a step further into the room. They exchanged a quick glance before my father turned to me with a cracked smile.

"Nothing, baby. How was Jade's play?"

"It was… fine," I pushed out, deciding it was easier to lie than even attempt to explain what had happened.

"That's great. We thought you'd be out a little while longer," my mom said softly, smiling at me. Yeah. Obviously you thought that. "You know, to celebrate or whatever you do after a successful play."

"Yeah, no… We weren't really in the mood and Jade was tired, so…" I made a short pause and warily looked back and forth between my parents. "What were you two fighting about?"

"Oh, nothing important. Don't worry about it." I didn't believe one word out of my dad's mouth but knew that I probably shouldn't try to meddle into their business. I had nodded then, cracked a smile and told them that I'd be upstairs and would go to bed soon. Not an hour had passed before I heard them again, this time even storming up the stairs with my dad yelling, "What could possibly be so wrong in our marriage for you to crawl to Gary and-"

The slam of the door had prevented me from hearing the rest of the sentence.

And now as I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling with that weird, queasy feeling in my stomach area, I didn't know what I should do. If I even _could_ do something. Sighing, I threw the covers off of me and slowly walked to my door, waiting a few seconds before I turned the knob. The hallway seemed to be so freaking long all of sudden as I put one foot in front of the other, approaching my parents' closed bedroom. Holding my breath, I softly pressed my ear to the door.

"You're never home, David! What-"

"I'm never home? Well, I'm sorry that I have a job! Should I quit it so you're happy?"

"That wasn't what I wanted to say by that!"

"You know, I don't understand why you don't just leave me instead of destroying our family with some stupid affair! You _saw_ what it did to the West's, what it did to _Jade_ in particular, and you really want to do it to Tori and Trina?"

What? No, no, no, no, no. This couldn't be happening.

"It's not an affair! I slipped, it was one time! You can't imagine how sorry I am!"

I stumbled back from the door as if my mom's words attempted to knock me over. My mom cheated. My dad… and… his partner… and my mom cheated on my dad with… his partner? The back of my eyes began to sting as I quickly walked up to Trina's room but my knocks stayed unanswered. When I pushed her door open, I saw why. She was sprawled out on her bed, headphones in her ears and mouth standing open. She was soundly asleep. I bit my lip to keep myself from crying, switched the lights off and softly closed the door behind me.

And while I leaned against the wall next to my own room, tears falling and my dad's broken yelling invading my brain, I knew there was only one person who could help me.

_**-OS&SD-**_

I wiped the sleeve of my pyjama across my cheek and sniffled as I saw light in Jade's living room. It was barely past midnight when I rang the doorbell.

An entire minute passed – I counted exactly 61 seconds – before the door warily swung open. Perfectly shaped eyebrows dug down when Jade saw me standing in front of her, her face crumpling in confusion. "Tori, what are you doing here?"

Her eyes flicked all over my body, taking in my appearance: a baggy, light blue pyjama, my glasses sitting on my nose, watery eyes and shivering hands. "Can I come in?" She snapped her gaze up from my shoes, lips parted as she nodded her head. "Are you sure? If… if I'm bothering you…"

Jade looked at me for a moment before her face slightly relaxed. She let out a tired sigh, briefly closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. "You're not bothering me, ever. Come in."

When I was standing in the parlor, my fingers nervously fiddling with each other, Jade came to stand in front of me. "What's the matter?" she calmly asked, but her eyes told me how worried she really was.

"Trina was already sleeping and I… didn't want to be alone because… I couldn't…" I trailed off and let out a loud, embarrassing sob. Jade's eyebrows furrowed even more.

"Tori, what happened?"

"My mom…"

"What's with your mom? Is she okay?"

"She cheated on my dad."

Jade's face seemed to freeze, her entire body actually. I was worried she didn't even breathe anymore. Then she shook her head. "I don't believe that. How do you know? Maybe it's just a misunderstanding."

So I told her about the text messages, about how my parents fought when I got home and about what I heard when I was eavesdropping at their door. When I finished, both of us still standing in the parlor, Jade's eyes were fixed somewhere past me, brows almost touching her hairline. "Wow," she muttered, more to herself than to me, "Your mom. Well, if that isn't crazy."

I swallowed and pressed my lips together. Crazy, that's right. "Is… Is your mom in bed already?"

Jade looked back at me. "No, she's still at the auction house. They got a new shipment today, so…"

"Oh."

"Yep."

Images of our kiss in the makeup room flashed up in my brain and managed to make the situation even more awkward, at least for me. Oh man, what was I thinking? "I shouldn't have come," I said feebly, "I'll just go ho-"

"No, it's fine," she interrupted, sighing loudly, "This has nothing to do with… earlier."

I nodded although I couldn't quite believe her. She couldn't just have forgotten that I rejected her. And yet here she was, running her tongue over her teeth before asking, "Do you want to stay here tonight?"

"If… that's okay? I can sleep on the couch, that won't be a problem."

Jade scoffed and crossed her arms. "Please. Just… go upstairs. I'm just going to turn off the TV and… I'll be there in a couple of minutes."

She went into the living room without another word while I slowly padded up the stairs. Should I really stay? I probably shouldn't… But I couldn't go home now, I just couldn't. What if they were still fighting? God, now I understood so much better how Jade had been feeling. But where else would I go? Well, not Beck. For sure not Beck. I wasn't really that close with Robbie and Andre and Cat… I didn't want them to know. Not yet, not until I was sure what was really going on. Of course there was still Noel but… darn it, I just… I needed Jade. No one else, just her.

"What are you doing?"

I jumped, turned around and saw Jade standing behind me, warily watching as I leaned my shoulder against the wall next to her room. Sighing, she reached past me and opened the door before she placed her hand on my lower back to push me into her room. The room was completely dark after the door fell shut behind us but instead of switching the lights on, Jade blindly led me to her bed, ordering me to sit down before she flicked her bedside lamp on. The sudden soft light made me squint but after blinking a couple of times my eyes adjusted to the dim glow the lamp cast over the room.

I looked into my lap when Jade called my name. "Tori?" I glanced up at her. "Do you need to talk?"

I thought about it for a moment before I made up my mind and kicked my converse off. Not answering her, I crawled fully onto Jade's bed, lifted the covers to get underneath them and lay down on my back. I heard Jade sigh before she slowly lay down next to me. We were quiet for a time, my eyes staring at the time the clock on the bedside table projected onto the ceiling after Jade had turned off the light. At exactly one a.m. I heard quiet footsteps outside in the hallway. Jade's mom was home. "Jade," I questioned, feeling her shift next to me.

"What?"

I took a deep breath before I asked. "Can I come closer?"

There was a long pause before she muttered out a quick 'Sure', causing me to scoot into her body. I laid my head on her chest and closed my eyes, spending a long time counting her heartbeats. When I got to seventy-two I opened my eyes. "Jade?"

"Hm?"

"How does it feel when your parents divorce?"

I remembered how much she had cried, how sad and destroyed she had felt. How weird it was that she was the one holding me now instead of the other way around. Her chest lifted when she took a deep breath. "It feels… not good." I frowned but didn't say anything. After all, what kind of answer did I expect? 'Oh you know, it's fun' maybe? "Your parents are far from getting a divorce though," Jade softly said and began to massage my head. "It sucks that your mom cheated. But it's not the end of the world. They can still work it out."

"What if they can't?" I quietly asked even though I didn't even want to think about it. They were my parents. They couldn't get a divorce.

"Then… it's going to be alright too. Because you're still gonna have your dad and your mom. You'll still have Trina." She paused and took another deep breath. "But hey, where's that annoying Vega optimism I hate so much?"

My eyes filled with tears. "It's flushed down the toilet."

Jade pulled me closer then, kissed the top of my head, and I couldn't do anything but snuggle deeper into her side.

_**-OS&SD-**_

I refused to open my eyes when I woke up in the morning.

I thought if I'd just keep them closed long enough everything would turn out to be a bad dream. Even the kiss with Jade. Nothing happened after the play. I congratulated her, went home to find my mom sitting on the sofa watching TV and my dad working out in the garage. I went to bed. Everything was okay. But when I eventually snapped my eyes open and saw that I was still in Jade's bed, in Jade's room, I knew that everything was indeed very real. I heaved out a sigh and rubbed my eyes just as the door opened. Jade came strolling in, coffee cup in hand and already fully dressed. Her lips curved into an amused smirk as she looked at me. "Well hey there, lioness."

I immediately reached for my hair and ran my hands through it until I was sure it was a little tamer. Jade sat down on the edge of her bed, eyes trained downwards. After she took a sip from her coffee, she said, "My mom is making pancakes for you."

"For me?"

She nodded. "Yep. Chocolate chip," she said staring into her cup, "She thought it might cheer you up a little."

"Did… you tell her…?"

For the first time since she entered the room Jade met my eyes. "No. I didn't know if you'd be okay with that so I just said you weren't feeling very well and… that you needed a friend."

I nodded. My eyes dropped to the cup, Jade's hands wrapped tightly around it as she looked into the black liquid. I wanted her to talk to me, about… about yesterday. I needed to know what happened in her head for her to change her mind so quickly about me. But Jade being Jade, I knew that I was the one who needed to take action. "Jade…" She turned her head to look at me. "About yesterday, um-"

"Come on, breakfast should be ready." She abruptly stood up and walked to the door without looking at me.

"But…"

I trailed off. She was already out of the room.

_**-OS&SD-**_

"I'll drive you home, if you want."

I bit my lower lip and took the edge of Jade's shirt I was wearing between my fingertips. Jade looked at me blankly, head tilted and arms crossed. She hadn't really talked to me during breakfast, leaving the talking to her mom. The older woman was worried about me, I could see that in the careful looks she sent me, but I appreciated that she didn't ask any questions.

I stood up from the bed and walked over to where Jade was leaning against her armchair. "I- Can we talk before I go home?"

She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. "About what?"

"You know about what."

There was a loud sigh. "Look, I know I shouldn't have kissed you. I get it. Please don't… keep shoving it down my throat. It's humiliating enough."

"Why did you kiss me?"

"Because I wanted to suck the life out of you, why do you _think_?"

She rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue, pushing herself off the armchair to walk past me. But I grabbed her arm and held her back. Her eyes snapped to mine, nostrils flaring slightly. "I just want to understand," I softly told her, pulling her a little closer, "Why you did what you did, what happened in your head for you to decide that kissing me was the right thing to do. I mean… I just really want to understand, that's all."

"Beck wants me back," she blurted out. My hold on Jade's arm slackened.

"What?"

"Yeah, well… Yesterday after the play he came to talk to me and he told me that… if I wanted we could try again. He'd be willing to, he said." He'd be _willing _to? What a crappy way to ask for a second chance with your ex-girlfriend. Geez, Beck. "I said I didn't want that."

I frowned. "Why did you say that?"

"Why do you think, Tori?" I let my hand limply fall to my side as she shrugged my hand off and crossed her arms. She sighed loudly and looked off to the side. Everything was quiet for a moment before Jade shook her head. "I know I made more mistakes than I can count. That I hurt you because I was this incredibly dumb bitch who was way too selfish and-… actually, you know, I think I still am that dumb bitch."

"Jade…"

"No, just… Noel's so good to you." She met my eyes again. "I guess it's time for me to… self-sacrifice, or whatever the word is."

"I'm not dating Noel," I said before I had the chance to think about possible consequences. Jade's eyebrows shot up and I… couldn't stop talking. "We went on one date but I couldn't stop thinking about you and then, then I told him about you, and about us. So then, we kind of wanted to make you jealous and you were wrong we _did _rub it in but just… just so you would get jealous. And I'm sorry but it was kind of fun."

It was kind of fun? What the hell, Tori? She didn't need to know that! Her wide, incredulous eyes were fixed on me, mouth standing open. I felt like I was shrinking under her unbelieving gaze and bit my lip as I waited for the blow up that was sure to come. "You… You don't want to be with Noel?"

"No…"

"And you had fun making me jealous?"

Dang it. "Well… just because I could see you care more than you… wanted to admit."

The blow up didn't come. Instead Jade shook her head and… actually _smiled_. "You sure are something, Tori Vega." Man, was I relieved. I smiled slightly when Jade chuckled and reached out to tug me out of her room. "Come on. Let's get you home. One step after another."

* * *

_A/N: Okay, so last chapter I got a review from a guest which was rather negative. Now, I normally don't address this since everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I'm actually happy about every review I get, be it praise or criticism. But to basically tell me if I end the story on a sad note I'd get hated by every reader... I've been getting a lot of similar things in the past about some other stuff I wrote (i. e. Find A Light). So it's not referring to the guest alone, more to everyone who sent me those rude messages on here and even on Tumblr.  
_

_Basically what I wanna say is: it's still **my **story. If I want to end it on a sad note I do it. That shouldn't get me any hate. It's _fiction_, okay? It just irks me that so many people want to dictate how I write, what I make happen. Let me do what I do, is that too much to ask? I'm not _forcing _you to read any of it, am I? It's okay if you don't like it, I don't like a lot of things either. And I like to get messages, you _can_ suggest something if you want, just don't get rude about it._

_So yeah. I'm sorry if that made me come off as a whiny bitch but ugh, it was just frustrating me for so long and I needed to get it off my chest already. It makes me lose motivation to write if all people do is tell me what I should write. I mean, that isn't the point, it comes from _my_ imagination. But anyway, sorry for the rant. _

_I hope you enjoyed the chapter._


	22. Twenty Two

The sight that greeted me and Jade when we stepped through the front door of my home was less horrible than I had expected it to be but it still managed to tug at my heart strings. My dad was sitting at the kitchen table with his head hanging down, hands clutching his coffee cup. That man wasn't my dad. My dad was always happy, always greeted me with a smile when I walked through the door. Now, he didn't even realize that someone came home.

I exchanged a look with Jade. I could see that she had the same thoughts as me, that she was just as taken off guard as I was. But when she saw the fear in my eyes, because man, was this scary, she managed to reassure me with just a simple look and subtle nod of her head that everything would be okay. I took a deep breath and slowly started my way over, Jade thankfully close behind me. "Dad?"

His eyes snapped up, looking startled. He swallowed and straightened up when he saw it was me. "Oh… Tori. Morning." He glanced behind me, barely managing a smile. "Morning, Jade."

"Hey."

"Dad, um…" He looked at me. I didn't know what to say, then asked the first thing that jumped into my brain. "Where's mom?"

Did she move out already? _Don't think like this. Don't._ His mouth twitched. "Trina dragged her out of the house this morning. There's a sale at… some shop." I heaved out a relieved breath. Thank God. "How was… You should have told us you were going to stay at Jade's yesterday," he reprimanded weakly. I could tell he was secretly glad that I hadn't been here for… whatever happened after I left. "If Jade hadn't called this morning we wouldn't have known where you are, Tori."

"I'm sorry."

His eyes dropped back to his cup. "It's fine. Just don't do it again without telling us. You know you can stay at Jade's whenever you want, just… let us know first."

"How was I supposed to tell you? You and mom… I heard you yesterday." He looked up at me, wide-eyed. It shouldn't come as such a surprise to him considering how loud they had been. Huh. I wondered if Trina had caught anything yesterday. Before I spoke the next words I took a step back. My voice shook as I felt Jade's body close behind me. "I know what happened. I heard."

"So you know that your mom…"

"Yes."

"With…"

I nodded my head. He mimicked me and rolled his lips in while leaning back in his chair. Man, this was so awkward. I really didn't want to talk about my mom's infidelity, I didn't even want to _think_ about it, but what else could I do? He was so sad and… I needed to understand what would happen to my parents. "Can we talk about it?"

"I-" He scratched the top of his head and sighed before he gave in. "Of course we can, Tor."

"I should leave you alone for that," Jade murmured from behind me. My hand shot out, tightly grabbing her wrist. I couldn't let her go, she couldn't leave me alone now, I-

"Tori…" I turned, my wide eyes meeting Jade's. She began to pry my fingers off of her, gently, then said, "You'll be fine. I'm going home now. I'll come back when you need me, kay?"

I inhaled deeply, letting my hand fall to my side. "Okay." She shot me a smile, said goodbye to my dad and all I could do was watch her leave. But Jade was right. It was better to do this alone, no matter how much I wanted her here with me.

"Are you and Jade back together?"

I ripped my gaze from the closed front door and turned to my father. Biting my lip and furrowing my eyebrows, I looked at his smiling face. "Your mom, she… told me that you'd been dating for a short time but broke up soon after so… I was just wondering. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"No, it's fine," I said and shook my head while taking a seat, "It's just… a little complicated right now. We're just friends… I think. I'm not sure."

"Okay. Well, whatever you are, friends or girlfriends, you know we support you."

I smiled. "I know." My eyes dropped to the cup in his hands. Pressing my lips together I looked back up and hesitantly asked, "What is going to happen now?" He stayed quiet, shrugged his shoulders in response. "Are you and mom getting a divorce?"

"Everything is still… really fresh," he started slowly, glancing down at the table, "I can't really wrap my head around this whole thing yet and it's… I think it just needs a little time, you know?" His eyes lifted to look at me. I nodded in understanding. "We have to really talk about it, your mom and I. And I'm really sorry that you had to listen to us yesterday. That was really stupid of us." He made a small pause before he added, "You were never really a heavy sleeper, unlike your sister."

My dad chuckled lightly. I frowned. "You're going to tell Trina though… right?"

"Tori…" I shook my head when dad sighed.

"No dad, she kinda deserves to know. And I mean… I can't stay quiet about this. You can't expect that from me. I know about it and… to leave Trina in the dark about what's going on is just… wrong."

She was part of this family, and yes, it often seemed like she didn't care about anyone else but herself. Trina could be the most selfish, narcissistic and annoying person on this planet but I knew that it wasn't at all how she really was. There was no doubt in my mind that she cared about us deeply. She simply deserved to know the truth.

"Yes. Yes, of course you're right. I just hoped we could… spare you two from this."

I smiled weakly. "Too late for that."

_**-OS&SD-**_

I closed my eyes, used the tips of my shoes to stir up the ground on either side of the swing and leaned my head back against the uncomfortable, hard metal chain. The bright late-afternoon sun warmed the side of my face while the joyous laughter of little kids all around me reminded me of how my own family would maybe never get back to the way they were.

"Aren't you a little too old for the playground?"

I smiled at the teasing voice, didn't open my eyes though. "You're never too old to be a kid," I said and listened to Jade's heavy boots scrape across the ground as she sank down on the swing next to mine. When I felt her foot give my leg a gentle nudge, I finally opened my eyes. She was staring right back at me, straddling the swing just like I was. Her hair shimmered a dark brown in the bright sunlight, blue highlights almost blinding me as the sun shone directly down on them. I bit my lip and let my eyes drop to my lap.

"Are you feeling alright?"

"I guess, yeah. Better than yesterday."

"Well, that's good."

"They told Trina earlier," I softly spoke after a while of silence and saw her shift on the swing out of the corner of my eye. "She was kind of… perplexed. She didn't say anything and just went up to her room. I tried to talk to her but she didn't want to let me in."

"Sometimes people need to have their space. Don't worry, she'll come around."

Yeah. Probably. It had been so weird seeing the person who was normally the loudest person in the house so quiet. The man and woman who were normally so happy and in love being so… distanced from each other. Everything was changing and it had only been one day. What would happen in a week from now? I sighed and looked up from my lap. "I really don't like all of this. I don't want this to happen, Jade. I want it to stop. To go back to normal."

"Tori-"

"I _know_ it's not possible, I know that but I just wish… my biggest concern regarding the future would be what I'll have for lunch on Monday or to what college I eventually wanna go to. I don't want to worry about how… my parents won't sit with each other at my graduation, how Trina and I are going to have two Christmases! I know a lot of people would like two Christmases but I don't. I _don't_!"

"You don't even know if-"

"I want to worry about us, I want to wonder how our future will look like! I want to think about that _kiss_ but you know what? I can't! I can't think about it because my head is just full of… of my mom's stupid inability to stay faithful!"

"Tori, listen-"

"I hate her. I hate her, Jade." My eyes widened at my own words and I could see the apprehension on Jade's face; she was just as shocked at what I had said as I was. But unlike me, she knew how to handle it.

"You don't hate her," she slowly, _softly_ explained while leaning forward, keeping her eyes locked on mine at any cost. I felt tears welling up, wished that those two metal chains weren't separating us. "You're mad at her. You _can_ be. But you don't hate her. She's your mom, she's a _good_ mom and she made a mistake. Give her a chance to mend things. Do what I was never able to do with my dad. Forgive her. The sooner you start with it, the better."

The tears in my eyes broke free, flowing down my face for everyone to see, for everyone to wonder what was wrong with me. I shook my head, took in a shaky breath. "I can't. I can't, she's so… How could she do that? I don't understand! You don't cheat on the person you love! It's wrong, you don't _do _that!"

The swing Jade had been sitting on shook as she quickly stood up and kneeled down in front of me. I choked on a sob, barely seeing her face through my tears but feeling her warm touch on my thighs as her hands slowly moved up and down in an attempt to get me to calm down. "Breathe, Tori," she murmured quietly to which I released the breath I was holding, sniffling when I felt Jade's fingers wipe the underside of my eyes. "Stop crying. Look at me."

I let her raise my chin with her hand and met those worried blue eyes of hers. I sniffled again. "Jade?"

"What's up?"

"Do you have a tissue?"

"I don't think I do…" She frowned and started patting the pockets of her jeans and of her leather jacket before she rested her hands on my lap again. "I don't. I probably have some in my car though."

My mind was blank as I nodded and tried to wipe my cheeks clean from all the tears that fell. "I really want a tissue."

She sighed and got up. "Come on then."

I almost fell over when I swung my leg over the swing, managing to steady myself at the last minute while clutching Jade's shoulder. Why did those stupid things always happen when Jade was around? Ugh, I wanted to sink into the earth and never rise again. "No need to blush, dork," she muttered into my ear as she pulled me close to her to ensure that I'd stand steady on my feet. I didn't let her pull away though. Instead, I slipped my arms underneath hers, tightly held on to her as I let my head sink onto her shoulder. I loved how warm Jade always was. How… soft she felt. I could hug her for forever.

And I _would _have hugged her forever, there on the playground with shrieking kids and a crying baby just a couple of feet away from us, hadn't she entangled my arms from her body. "Let's go," she said, tightly grabbed my hand and pulled me with her to her car. And again, even when I was _with_ Jade, I couldn't think about anything but my mom and dad, about _Gary_.

"Here's your tissue."

I snapped my eyes up from the floor, flicked them from Jade's face to her hand holding out a white tissue to me. I mumbled a quiet 'thanks' and took it from her, dabbed my eyes with it before I tightly squeezed it in my hand. "Thanks for coming."

"No big deal."

I glanced up from the crumpled tissue, still letting my fingers squeeze it, run over the soft fabric as I looked at Jade leaning against the side of her car. Arms crossed and lips pursed, she stared at me. _Concentrate on her, Tori. Only her. She is the only one who matters. She's here. She's all you need._

My feet carried me closer to her almost on their own, our toes touching when I came to a stop. "I'm glad you didn't take Beck back," I told her completely out of the blue and watched her eyebrows shoot up. I took a deep breath. "I don't know what I would have done if… you did."

"Yeah, well…" She looked off to the side, was quiet for a few seconds before she shrugged her shoulders and turned back to me. "He's kind of a douche."

I giggled. Well, she wasn't wrong. He _could_ be a douche. Her hands found my hips and pulled me into her. She sighed and looked down. "I guess it was just easier for me. Not just because he's a guy but because he's so similar to me. Asshole and asshole, that kind of fits."

I furrowed my brows, smiling and shaking my head as I let my hands rest on her shoulders. "You're not an asshole." She narrowed her eyes a little and smirked but didn't say anything else. "An asshole wouldn't take care of me so well."

"I wouldn't do that for anyone else," she argued, locking her fingers behind my back, "You have a VIP status."

"Ah, I see." I nodded in understanding. "What other benefits do I get?"

"Oh please don't get dirty now."

"What? I wasn't-"

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Tori. Seriously."

"But I didn't- _You_ were the one who turned this into something sexual!"

Jade gasped. "Me? I did no such thing!"

"But… but you- But-"

"But, but, but, but!"

I groaned and closed my eyes while I buried my warm face into Jade's neck. "Stop teasing me!"

I felt her hand move up, flittering across my back and into my hair as she chuckled. "It made you laugh!"

"Well… make me laugh some other way."

"Oh," she dragged out in mock understanding, "You mean-" Her right hand moved up from my hip, her left one out of my hair until both rested on either side of my ribs. "-the tickle bunny twins." Fingers quickly danced across my sides, almost making me shriek with laughter as I squirmed in Jade's arms. I didn't even want to know what people walking by must have thought of us, how crazy I must have looked, but in the end I didn't even care.

"Please stop! Stop, I can't… breathe! Oh my God, Jade!" Her fingers gradually slowed down, my laughter subsided and changed into heavy breaths as I tried to fill my lungs with much needed air again. Jade leaned me back against the car, our previous positions now reversed. I giggled into her ear while she hugged me close, heavy breaths still escaping my mouth and smile in place. "Thank you," I quietly mumbled and rested the side of my head against hers. I bit my lip as I felt her press a light kiss against my neck.

"Anytime."

* * *

_A/N: Thank you all for your kind words. They made me smile and laugh (a FanFiction prom? Consider me your date, wikster!) but don't worry, I am not planning to end it on a sad note... maybe. I originally planned the story to be way lighter but well... my brain just doesn't work the way I want it to. Anyway, thanks again!_


	23. Twenty Three

"_I have a surprise for you though."_

"I don't want any surprises. I just want to… lie in bed and watch TV."

"_Come on, Tori. You can do that tomorrow. I want you to cheer for me and Cat. I need you there."_

No, you don't." I let my right leg dangle from the couch while I massaged the throbbing point on my forehead which bothered me ever since I came back from school earlier. "You'll be great with or without me there. It doesn't matter."

"_True. I'm going to be great. But _with_ you I'm going to be incredible."_

"Jade," I whined and closed my eyes, "I don't want to. I have a headache."

"_Don't lie to me!"_

"I'm not lying! I really do have a headache."

There was a deep sigh on Jade's end. _"Well, but… it's the Full Moon Jam,"_ she argued weakly to which I let my eyes fall shut, _"You can't just not come."_

"Look, Jade, I just don't feel like… _people_ tonight. I'd love to see you and Cat perform but I just really don't feel like going out today and fake being happy because I'm really not."

During the last two weeks my home situation… got better, I guess. I mean, it didn't get worse. Mom and dad didn't yell at each other anymore, however, they didn't really talk to each other either. Although I have to admit, my mom tried. She started to make breakfast for _all_ of us again, not just for herself. She did everything what she could to make it up to my father, to make sure that Trina and I knew that she still loved and cared for us so much.

"_Fine. But can I come over after? I really do have a surprise for you."_

My lips twitched into a smile. "You do? I thought you were just saying that to get me to come."

"_No, I didn't. I really have one."_

"Well, what is it?"

"_Can I come over later or not?"_

I grinned at the slight annoyance in her tone but as soon as I heard the front door open and seconds later my mom's face hovered above me with a small smile, my temporary good mood vanished. "Yeah. Yeah, you can. Just, um…" I sat up and watched my mom place her purse onto the kitchen table, her eyes hesitantly glancing over to me when I lowered my voice. "Use the door, please."

"_Yeah, sure. If you insist."_

"Good. Bye."

I stared down at the pear-shaped object in my hand long after I had disconnected the call, actually considering going to the Full Moon Jam as I heard my mom in the kitchen making herself a cup of coffee. I didn't even want to think about spending the evening alone with my mom. Trina would be at school and my dad at work. That just left me... and her. "You're going out tonight, you and Jade?"

My fingers tightened around my phone as the light shadow of my mom loomed over me. I glanced up at her, noticing the small smile and the hesitation in her eyes. "No. Are you eavesdropping on my phone calls now?"

She sighed and, much to my annoyance took a seat next to me on the sofa. "I wasn't eavesdropping, Tori."

"How do you even know it was Jade?"

"Well, she's the only one who takes the window to get into the house," she said with a chuckle, "Unless you're not telling me something."

"What, you think I'm some kind of slut who sneaks in someone different every night? Jade is my best friend, okay, we don't do anything. She's there for me, that's all."

I saw the surprise etched on her face when I turned to look at her with a glare that could definitely do the ones of Jade justice. For a moment I felt bad but then I remembered that she, in fact, _was_ someone who wasn't satisfied with just one person, no matter how much they loved her. So I didn't apologize. She didn't deserve it.

"Of course that's not what I think," she said after she recovered from the small shock the way I had spoken to her gave her, although her voice was still hesitant, unbelieving. "It was meant as a… as a joke. I didn't want to insinuate anything."

I simply nodded and leaned back, opening up a game on my phone. "Um… I was thinking I could make family pot pie today. You know, for you and Trina and me. Jade can have some too when she comes over."

"Oh yeah?" I put on a sarcastic smile and looked up from my phone. "How awesome. What about dad?"

Mom's eyebrows rose a little. "Well, he's at work but I'll save him a piece of course."

"How generous of you." As soon as the words left me I realized how… unlike me I was acting. Sure, I was mad at her and in my book I had every right for that, but man… I was kinda turning into Jade. Not that being like Jade was a bad thing but… that wasn't me. For God's sake she was trying so hard. I should really give her a chance, follow Jade's advice. I sighed and exited the game before placing my phone next to me on the couch. "Better do it tomorrow," I softly suggested, turning my head toward my mother, "Trina will be at school tonight. It's the Full Moon Jam so…"

"Oh." Her eyes looked at the table for a few seconds before they settled back on mine, her eyebrows furrowing. "Well, aren't you going too?"

"No… I don't really feel like it."

I could tell by the way her eyes dropped to the couch that she knew it had a lot to do with her and the current situation that I didn't want to go. But what did she expect? That Trina and I would be totally cool with her cheating on dad? Please. "I'm sorry that you have to go through this." She guiltily looked up at me. "I know being a teenager is hard enough as it is. You girls don't need an extra burden on your shoulders."

I shrugged and looked into my lap. "We manage."

"Do you… Do you think you'll be able to forgive me someday?"

There was so much hope carved into the frown on her face, so much fear and worry of what I might say. I was positive that I would never be able to forget what she had done but maybe… it would get easier to push to the back of my mind. I smiled. "I think so. Someday."

I actually hoped someday would be very soon.

I just missed my mom.

_**-OS&SD-**_

"Why are you so late? I thought you wouldn't come at all anymore!"

"Aww, did you miss me?"

She smirked and leaned against the doorframe as her eyes teasingly glinted at me. I didn't know why, but I couldn't help but blush and clear my throat after the next words left my mouth. "Well… yes, of course. I always miss you."

The smirk on Jade's face lost a great deal of its teasing undertones and quickly morphed into a smile while her eyes softened. "Then let's not waste another minute. Come on."

Instead of coming inside, Jade pushed herself off of the doorframe and took a couple of steps back. I frowned as she motioned with her head toward our driveway. "What? Where do you wanna go? I thought you had a surprise for me."

"I do," she confirmed, nodding her head, "But we have to go somewhere for you to get it."

"I'm already in my pyjamas."

"Just throw something on then."

"But why can't you just-"

"Don't argue with me! Just trust me."

"Okay, okay. I'll go get dressed."

"Just put on a sweater or something. No one will see you. I'll wait in the car."

Before I could object, she was gone and left me no other choice but to do as she said. A surprise. As I trudged up the stairs, probably stretching Jade's patience to the max with how slow I was going, I wondered what she could possibly have planned for me. What kind of surprise was it that I had to go out of the house but still wouldn't be seen by anybody?

Jade and her confusing ideas.

When I slipped into a dark purple sweater, put on a pair of jeans and my converse, I made my way back down the stairs, the curious voice of my mother causing my head to snap up. "Are you going out?"

She looked at me with her head slightly tilted from her spot in the kitchen, in her hands a bowl of popcorn. "Yeah. Jade has something she wants to show me at… somewhere. I don't know where yet." I paused, sending her a wary look. "It's okay if I go, isn't it?"

Even if it hadn't been okay for her, I didn't think she'd say so after she tried so hard to earn my 'approval' back. "Yes, it's okay. Just don't stay out too long. Be back soon."

"Yeah, no problem."

After sending my mother a weak smile in what I considered to count as a goodbye, I walked out of the door, the butterflies I always got when I was nervous about something getting stronger and stronger the closer I got to Jade's car. Jade was sitting in the driver's seat, looking down, but as soon as I rounded the car and opened the passenger side door to get in, her eyes snapped up.

"What on earth took you so long?"

"I didn't take _that_ long," I argued, plopping down into the passenger's seat, "Plus, I expected we'd just stay in so I had to brace myself mentally."

Jade smirked. "Mentally, huh?"

"Yeah, _mentally_. So? Where are we going?"

"If you would have closed the door we would already be half way there."

I stuck my tongue out at her, to which she chuckled and mumbled out a "very mature,", before I pulled the door shut and fastened my seatbelt. "Happy now?" I asked, turning toward Jade with raised eyebrows.

"Yup."

The engine roared to life then, Jade pulling out of our driveway and driving down the street without answering my question to where we were going. I didn't ask again, instead told her about what happened with my mom today and how glad I was that it actually _did_ happen. No matter what she did… she was still my mother and I loved her. When I found myself staring at our school building only five minutes later however, my words died down. "What… Isn't the Full Moon Jam over already?"

The small space of Jade's car was suddenly completely silent as Jade pulled the key out of the ignition, my ears taking in the click of a seatbelt as Jade unbuckled hers. "Oh yeah, it's over."

"But then why-"

My sentence was cut off by the slam of the door, leaving me sitting alone in Jade's car. What in the world was she up to? The school? What were we doing here? The door on my side flew open, Jade's hand reaching over me to unbuckle my seatbelt. I heard her mutter, "Man, you're slow today. You're not a turtle," before her hand grabbed my wrist and started to tug me out of the car.

"What are we doing here?" I asked as she locked her car and tugged me with her. We walked around the building until we got to Sikowitz's window. My eyes widened when Jade pushed it open without putting much effort into it.

"We're here for your surprise," she simply said, climbed into the room and called for me to follow her. I did, hesitantly so. I mean, this had to be illegal! "Jade! We can't just break into the school! What if we get caught?"

"We won't get caught. No one's here, doofus."

"But-"

"Oh my God," she said and turned to look at me, "Will you stop with your stupid 'but's'? It's getting on my last nerve."

"I'm sorry but I don't normally break into buildings!"

"Oh, there we go again. Do you think I do this on a regular basis?"

"Well, I don't know. You do it more often than me, that's for sure."

I pouted when she smirked at me. "You snappy little thing."

"Can we just… go or something?"

"So you don't want your surprise?"

Ugh, I wanted that surprise so bad. I was so curious but… we were in school on a Friday night. "I… Is it dangerous?"

"No," Jade chuckled, brows furrowing in amusement and hand reaching out to wrap around my wrist, "Come on, I'm sure you'll like it."

We walked through the dark corridors, Jade's phone leading us the way until we reached the music room on the second floor, where she pushed the door open and dragged me inside. I frowned when she left me standing in the middle of the room to strategically place her phone on top of the piano. "Um… can't we turn on the lights?"

"No. Just-" Her eyes dragged all over the room, wide and quick. Was she nervous? "Sit down." I did my best to hide my amused grin as I took a seat on the stool Jade pulled up to stand in front of the piano, placed my hands in my lap and expectantly waited for whatever was going to happen now. Jade cleared her throat, pushed her hair back with one hand while her other one rubbed her nose, and sank down onto the piano bench. "So… I know that I said you didn't have to worry about _us_, with this whole thing with your parents going on right now but I don't… I can't really wait anymore."

Her eyes shone in the bright moonlight that seeped in through the big windows, the light of her phone not even needed with how bright the moon was tonight. I furrowed my eyebrows and tilted my head. She continued. "But since I know that… I wasn't really the most considerate person in the past… I thought I needed to do something special. Do some damage control."

The room was suddenly filled with a slow melody as Jade started to let her fingers fly over the black and white keys. After a few seconds, her voice joined in.

_I'll never be_

_A knight in armor_

_With a sword in hand_

_Or kamikaze fighter_

_Don't count on me_

_To storm the barricades_

_And take a stand_

_Or hold my ground_

_You'll never see_

_Any scars or wounds _

_I don't walk on coals_

_I won't walk on water_

_I am no prince_

_I am no saint_

_I am not anyone's wildest dream_

_But I will stand behind and be_

_Someone to fall back on_

It felt like my heart was strumming along to every note Jade played and sang, as cheesy and stupid as that may sounded. But with every new hit of the keys, with every word that left Jade's lips I felt myself completely forgetting where I was right now. Who cared that we were alone in the school, in the middle of the night? What did that even matter? As long as Jade kept singing, I didn't care about anything.

_Some comedy_

_You're bruised and beaten down_

_And I am the one_

_Who's looking for a favor_

_Still honestly_

_You don't believe me _

_But the things I have_

_Are the things you need_

_You look at me_

_Like I don't make sense _

_Like a waste of time_

_Like it serves no purpose_

Her eyes lifted for some very brief seconds and locked on mine before they dropped back down to watch her hands flitter across the keys in such a… effortless and beautiful fashion. I wished she'd kept her eyes on me but, God, this was _Jade_. Jade, who was so bad with letting others know how she felt, who sometimes rather threw insults at people instead of showing her softer side. This song… this _amazing_ song was more than I could ask for, really.

_I am no prince_

_I am no saint_

_And if that's what you believe you need_

_You're wrong, you don't need much_

_You need someone to fall back on_

_And I'll be that_

_I'll take your side_

_If I'm the only one_

_I'm used to that_

_I've been alone_

_I'd rather be_

_The half of us_

_Least of you_

_The best of me_

I grinned, the tears I felt burning on the edges of my eyes causing me to lift my hand to make sure they wouldn't escape. Although the smile Jade sent me before she continued was making things very hard for me to keep it together.

_And I will be_

_I'll be your prince_

_I'll be your saint_

_I will go crushing through fences_

_In your name_

_I will, I swear_

_I'll be someone to fall back on_

_I'll be _

_The one who waits_

_And for as long as you let me_

_I will be_

_The one you need_

_I'll be someone to fall back on_

_Someone to fall back on_

And as the last notes faded away and Jade's hesitant eyes lifted to see my reaction, I felt myself falling even more in love with her.

If that was even possible.

* * *

_A/N: The song is not Jade's of course, it's originally by Jason Robert Brown (I listened to the Bandslam version though). But for the sake of how it's fitting so well with everything and for the sake of my nonexistent songwriting skills let's pretend it _is_ Jade's._

_Oh, and over 400 reviews! Thank you guys so much!_


	24. Twenty Four

"Jesus Christ, could you say something? This is driving me insane."

A gush of air rushed out of my mouth but no sound whatsoever managed to get past my lips. I just kept staring at Jade, at this… weirdly nervous girl sitting on the piano bench with her arms pulled close to her body as if what I would say would be crucial for if she'd actually fall apart or not. But there was just nothing I _could_ say, nothing that could ever do this incredible feeling Jade evoked inside of me justice. It wasn't possible to put it into words.

It was time for actions.

I stood up, my knees weak – oh wow, this was so romantic comedy like, right? – and walked over to Jade, the corners of my mouth tugging upwards only a little bit as I watched the tension in Jade's face grow. "Tori?"

I shook my head, stretched my hand out for her to take. The way her eyes flicked down to my hand, back up and then back to my hand, an expression of fear, almost, on her face caused me to grin. She looked utterly adorable. Her hand fell into mine, although hesitantly, as if who knows was going to happen to her. Heart pounding and fingers tingling, I pulled her to her feet. "I don't understand what's happening," she muttered quietly, "Is this a good thing? Tori-"

Words were smothered by my lips, her voice trailing off into a short hum. My arms wound around her neck while hers went around my waist. I tried my best to convert everything I wanted to say, but just couldn't, into this kiss; every quick heartbeat that was for her, every shiver, every goosebump, I wanted her to feel everything. With a gasp, Jade pulled away, eyes dazed.

"That… that means you liked the song, right?"

Laughing quietly, I let my fingers brush over a smooth, pale cheek. "It does. I_ loved_ the song, it was… I don't even know what to say, it just was so… so perfect. I mean, everything about it, I loved everything. The way you sang it and _what_ you sang and- and how it made me feel, it was so-"

This time it was me who got cut off, but really, in the best way possible. I smiled against her lips and moved both of my hands to her jaw, fingertips gently running along her sharp jawline. "I get it," she mumbled, pulling away with a smirk, "You liked it."

"I adored it," I corrected her gently while slowly sliding my hands down her arms. I hesitated for a second, teeth dragging across my bottom lip as I ran my eyes over every part of Jade's face, before I asked, "So does that mean… like, what I think it means?"

"Look, Tori," she started, smirk vanishing as she pulled away from me, "I'm really not… _good_ with words. At least not with _talking_, 'cause writing and singing them seemed to work alright." She chuckled quietly and watched the tips of her fingers run over the piano keys. "But just because I'm not saying it doesn't mean that I don't feel it. I just, I don't know _how_-"

"It's fine." Her eyes snapped up to me. I smiled. "Just… answer the question with yes or no. Does this mean what I think it means?"

"Yes," she responded without missing a beat, a grin beginning to tug her lips upwards. Oh man… how sad was it that I was shocked how happy you could be? I really, _seriously_ forgot how awesome it felt, that tingling in your chest, the way it felt like my entire body, from every tip of every hair to every single one of my toes, was gently pulsing with electricity. And don't even let me get started how it felt when Jade kissed me again. Oh Geez, I missed this so much.

When she eventually pulled away, sighing contently, she kept her arms loosely around my waist and said, "You know, the song would have been even _better_ if I'd have performed it at the Full Moon Jam."

I tilted my head, brows furrowing in confusion. "The… Full Moon Jam? You wanted to perform _that_ song?"

"Yeah."

"Together with Cat?"

"No, not together with Cat."

"But you said you wanted me there so that I could- Oh."

Jade rolled her eyes, shook her head and tightened her arms around me. "I swear you can be so stupid sometimes."

I feigned to be offended, gasping dramatically. "You can't say stuff like that to me anymore! You're my girlfriend now!"

"Oh? Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you but nothing is going to change. Except maybe-" She kissed me, taking my bottom lip between both of hers, before pulling away only a couple of seconds later. "-I get to do this."

I grinned like a freaking maniac, teeth grabbing hold of my lower lip. "I-" A sound outside in the hall, a light clang of some sort, made my blood freeze and eyes widen. Jade however only nonchalantly glanced at the door. "Oh my God, someone's here," I harshly whispered and broke away from our embrace to scurry over to the closed door. Nothing could be heard when I pressed my ear against it, no further clangs or bangs or footsteps. Still, I was almost peeing my pants. "Jade," I said as quietly as possible so as not to make ourselves known in case there _was_ someone there. "I think we should really go now."

When I turned around however, I found Jade leaning against the piano, arms crossed and the most relaxed expression on her face. She smirked when she noticed me looking at her. "Well, someone's a scaredy-cat. Poor baby."

"I'm serious, I think someone is here!"

"And who would that be?"

"I don't know," I squeaked, "A janitor? Or- or a teacher who forgot something, I don't _know_! Let's just go, please!"

And while I almost got a stupid panic attack, – okay, maybe I was a little overreacting, but we _did_ kinda break into the school! – Jade merely laughed. "Okay. Can't risk you dying of fear."

I pushed out a relieved breath as she grabbed her phone from the piano and walked toward me. Just as I was about to push down the door handle though, Jade grabbed my arm. "Wait," she said urgently, "Do you really want to go out there? Maybe it's a ghost."

"Oh, ha ha. Very funny."

"_Scooby dooby doo, where are you? We've got some wo-_"

"Shut up!"

"Don't pretend you don't like it anymore. It's okay, Tori, everyone has their guilty pleasures."

"Seems like it," I whispered as we walked through the empty halls, "How else would you know the words to the theme song of Scooby Doo?"

"Because that's what you continuously made me watch when we were younger. It stuck. I'm cursed for a lifetime."

"Would you lower your voice?!"

"Why? Scared that the ghost will hear us?"

I sighed when Jade pulled open the door of Sikowitz's classroom, a teasing smirk on her lips as she held it open for me. "You're incorrigible," I mumbled, hopped up onto the small stage and pushed open the small window where we came through earlier.

"Oh, you love it."

I couldn't even argue with that.

_**-OS&SD-**_

Needless to say, my weekend turned out to be the best weekend I had had in a long time. Jade and I spent the majority of our time at her house, when her mother was home in her room and when we were alone out in the garden or in the living room. It was perfect. I just hoped it would last longer than a week this time around.

"I really don't think it's healthy anymore."

Jade sighed as she pulled into our driveway, turning her head toward me when she shut off the engine and unbuckled her seatbelt. "She buys some stuff from Sky Store, so what? She'll run out of money soon and there's that."

I nodded thoughtfully. "If you think so."

"Yeah. But honestly? My head is occupied with other things than worrying about Cat and… a machine that produces poisonous fake snow."

"Oh? What _is_ your head occupied with?"

The answer that I got was a smirk before she exited the car and began walking up to the door. I smiled and quickly hurried after her. "Is it me?" I teased when Jade pushed down the button on her key to lock the car. A grin made its way to my face when I got no answer. "Oh, it is me." I wrapped my arms around her from behind and pulled her back against me, nose nuzzling her neck.

Jade chuckled. "We should better get inside. That's really not such a good position for our idiot friends to find us in, in case they decide to pay you a surprise visit."

"You know what an even _worse_ position is?" I asked and turned her around so that she faced me. Her eyebrows rose in question, eyes dropping to my lips when I started to lean in.

"That is worse," she mumbled before doing the rest of the work, connecting our lips and pulling me closer.

"Oh."

I froze at the familiar voice. Oh. My. God. Slowly – and really, I had no idea _why_ I did it so slowly, – I pulled my lips away from Jade's, feeling a familiar heat rush to my face as I turned towards my father who was standing in the middle of the now open doorway. His eyebrows raised and lips twitching with a small smile, he cleared his throat and said, "I thought I heard someone talking, so I… opened the door."

Despite suddenly having the urge to dig myself a hole and die in it, I smiled while I felt Jade's arms slip away from me. "Yeeaah," I dragged out awkwardly, locking my fingers together in front of me, "That was us."

My dad nodded, smirk in place as he looked back and forth between me and Jade. "So you two made up. You're girlfriends now."

I didn't know if it was just the embarrassment clouding my brain or if it really was true, but he sounded almost… satisfied? "Um, we- I… What are you doing home?"

His smirk didn't disappear as he answered. "I have a lot of paperwork to do so I figured I could do it at home."

"Oh! Well, that's… that's great."

I didn't bother hiding my grin. He did that more often now, doing his paperwork he'd normally do at the police station at home, taking the weekends off and not working late anymore. Of course there was a possibility that he only did that to escape from working with Gary, who was actually still his partner, but maybe he also did that for mom. It was all she really wanted from him, that he'd be home more often.

"Yeah," he agreed, before stepping to the side, jutting his thumb toward our living room, "Did you want to come in or do you want to stay outside, doing… what you did?"

Oh please kill me. This was so embarrassing. "Actually, I should get home n-"

"Yeah, we want to go inside," I quickly said before Jade could finish and grabbed her arm to pull her after me, past my dad until we awkwardly stood by the couch. Her wide eyes locked on mine, mouth pressing together as she sent me an unbelieving look. Ha. No way was I going to endure my dad's teasing – that was _sure_ to come – alone.

"So, Jade…" We both turned to see my dad walking up to us, his arms crossed and lips pulled into a smile. "What are your intentions?"

Jesus, was he serious? One look at Jade told me she thought the same thing. "My… my intentions? Really now, Mr. Vega?"

My dad chuckled, let his arms unfold and shook his head. "Nah, I just thought I try it. That's what fathers always say in movies, isn't it?" I smiled in amusement. That man could be such a dork sometimes. "Oh, and by the way, Jade: I think it's time to drop that. Call me David, for God's sakes, we're not strangers."

"Oh. Yeah, okay."

"Plus, you're kind of my "daughter in law" now, so it would be really awkward if you'd still call me Mr. Vega."

Oh my God. "Dad, would you stop it? We're dating, not married!"

"Yeah, I know. That's why I used air quotes."

"Well, but still!"

"What do you want me to say then? My daughter's girlfriend? That's so long!"

"It's not longer than daughter in law!"

When he sighed, I glanced at Jade to see her with a raised eyebrow and a smirk, eyes traveling from my dad to me. Immediately, I felt a slow warmth spread over my entire face. "Okay, fine. I was just trying to be a cool dad." He let his head hang in mock sadness and trudged into the kitchen. But just as I thought it was over and reached for Jade's hand to lead her to the couch, my dad loudly asked,

"Do you want something to drink, daughter's girlfriend?"

"Dad!"

Was he serious now?! With incredulous wide eyes I snapped my head toward the kitchen, just in time to see the man that apparently found incredible joy in teasing me turn around to face me with an innocent look. "You told me to call her that!"

"I- Dad, just-"

"I'd love a cup of coffee, actually."

"Coming right up," he happily exclaimed and turned his attention to the coffee machine. Well, at least there was one good thing about getting endlessly teased by my dad, I thought as Jade and I sat down on the couch. I hadn't seen him smile like that in quite a while.

"Here you go, daughter's girlfriend."

Although he was slowly driving me insane.


	25. Twenty Five

_A/N: Heavy influenced by 'The Bad Roommate'. Although I didn't include that the song Andre is writing is for this Kojeezi dude since 'Tori Goes Platinum' didn't happen and Tori never went to that meeting with Mason since she never met him so she couldn't have invited Kojeezi to her class... and I'm ramblimg and making everything totally complicated but whatever. Enjoy!  
_

* * *

"_What do you mean? Why can't I come over?"_

"Andre's staying the nig-"

"_Why is _Andre_ staying overnight?! Do you want to tell me something?"_

I flinched at the accusing and harsh tone and peeked into the empty hall, piano music drifting up the stairs, before I quietly closed my bedroom door. "His grandmother was keeping him from writing his song so he came over to write it here."

"_Oh, and he has to stay overnight for that?"_

"He just turned up here with two suitcases," I defended myself and sat down on the edge of my bed, "I couldn't say no."

"_Yeah, you could have."_

"No! That would have been mean."

"_Your mom could have said no then."_

"Jade, are we seriously fighting over this?"

"_He's not gonna stay in your room, is he?"_

"Of course _not_!" My parents didn't even let Jade stay overnight anymore, – well, not that that stopped us. There was still the window, it wasn't like they could just barricade it. – so did she really think they'd let a boy stay into my room who wasn't even my boyfriend in the first place? Not that anything would happen between Andre and me but… you get the point. "But even if he did, which he _doesn't_, you wouldn't need to worry."

"…_Fine."_

"Is it really fine or are you just saying that so I won't annoy you any longer?"

Jade sighed. _"Maybe a bit of both."_

A light smile began to tug at my lips. "You know, it's actually really cute."

"_What's cute?"_

"You being so jealous."

She scoffed while my smile only widened at the unusual sound of hearing Jade stammer. _"No one said anything about- I mean, I don't get why you- I'm not jealous!"_

"Oh, sure you aren't."

"_Don't be so smug. I know you wouldn't do anything with him."_

"And still you're jeeeaaalous," I sang softly, teasing her even more.

"_Nonsense. I'm just disappointed that I won't be getting any tonight."_

Ugh, that's what she always did. Every. Freaking. Time. Whenever I'd finally find something I could tease her with, she turns everything around by turning the situation into something sexual which she _knows_ will always shut me up. Just like this time. Well, at least she couldn't see me blushing. "Well, you… You wouldn't have gotten any either way so… so it doesn't even matter that Andre's here and you… yeah."

Jade laughed loudly, a sound that always managed to lift up my spirits, no matter what. _"I love how innocent you are."_

My head snapped toward the door when a knock sounded. "Hang on a second," I told Jade before telling Andre, presumably, to come in. Knew it. He pushed the door open just a little bit and smiled, eyebrows raised. "What's up?"

"I was wondering if you could help me with something."

"_If he's trying something with you I'm going to kill him."_

I ignored Jade's voice and nodded at Andre. "Yeah, sure. What do you need help with?"

"I just want your opinion on what I already have of the song."

"Yeah. I'll be down in a second."

He nodded and sent me another smile before he was out of the door again. "I have to go now," I said into the phone and heard Jade grumble something under her breath. "What was that?"

_Make sure he keeps his hands to himself."_

I laughed. "Goodnight, Jade."

"_I'm serious!"_

"I know you are. But he's your friend. You warmed up to Noel, you'll manage with Andre, right?" Noel was the only one, aside from my family, who knew that Jade and I had started dating. It had taken a little while for Jade to actually be civil toward Noel (I swear, she could get so jealous that I almost expected her to turn into Hulk) but for my sake and with the knowledge that nothing ever happened between me and him, Jade actually managed. Although she was still not too fond of him being close to me in any physical way. But I guess that was understandable.

"_That's different. Andre doesn't know that we're together."_

"Well, I do and I can assure you there's no need for you to worry." I stood up from the bed with a sigh and slowly walked to my door. "Andre's not interested in me and I am _only_ interested in you."

"_You better be."_

I grinned. "Goodnight."

"_Night, Tor."_

_**-OS&SD-**_

I screamed as a loud whistle sound rudely ripped me out of my blissful slumber, shocking me so much that I tumbled down the stairs and landed sprawled out on the ground.

"What happened? Was I sleeping?"

"You were."

Looking up, I saw Jade looking down at me. I rubbed at my ear in an attempt to get the small siren that seemed to blare in it to quieten down. "Did I hear a loud whistle?"

"Oh, you probably just dreamed it." With furrowed eyebrows I looked up and saw something silver gleaming in Jade's hand before it disappeared into her bag. "So, why were you sleeping on the stairs?"

"'Cause! Andre played the piano until four in the morning, so I didn't get any sle-" When I finally was up on my feet, I looked up and stopped talking when I saw Jade walk away. "I wasn't done talking!"

She smiled at me from her place in front of her locker and said, "I was done listening."

I sighed and trudged over to her. "I'm really tired. I think I have to tell Andre that-"

I frowned and broke off as almost everyone around us broke out into laughter. When I looked around myself I saw all of them looking in our direction… but why were they laughing? Before I could question Jade about it, who looked equally confused, four guys came up to us.

"Hey Jade," one of them said, barely able to keep his laughter in, "If you had to choose between your elbow and your nose… I guess you'd _pick your nose_!" The laughter in the hall only increased but Jade's eyes widened, lips parting as she looked at something over my shoulder.

"What was that about?" I asked and took a look around. "And… why is everyone laughing-"

For the second time that day she just left me standing there, the loud bang of her locker door almost giving me a heart attack as she forcefully pushed it shut and stalked over to the soda machine. Frowning, I watched her call out to Beck and Cat, leaving me no choice but to follow her if I didn't want my curiosity to kill me.

"Hey Jade, what's-"

Jade loudly cut Beck off. "Who told?!"

"Told what?" Cat asked as I came to stand right beside Jade.

"About me! About me on PearMaps…"

"I- I told no one."

"I told people _not_ to look," Cat proudly stated, although… I didn't think it was anything to be proud of, whatever she told people not to look at.

"Well, then it had to have been Robbie because…" She trailed off when she realized it too and all three of us, Beck, Jade and I, turned our attention to Cat. "What do you mean you told people _not_ to look?"

"I tweeted it on The Slap," she said, glancing at her phone while obviously not understanding why Jade would even ask.

"You-" Before all her anger could break out of her, Jade stopped herself and began anew, voice careful, shaking with repressed anger and overall sounding just really, really dangerous as she took a step closer to Cat. What in the name of gravy was going _on_? "What did you tweet?"

"Just… 'Please do not go on PearMaps and look up Hollywood Arts. If you do, do _not _zoom in on Jade! PS.: She's _not_ picking her nose.' I made it super clear."

Beck and I both got ready for the rampage that was sure to come, him slowly shifting between the space between Cat and Jade while I carefully grabbed Jade's arm. I could barely hold her back as she let out an angry shriek and tried to attack Cat, planning to do God knows what to her. She collided into Beck's chest though, thankfully, before she could get her hands on the redhead.

Just run," Beck pushed out and looked at Cat while it needed both of us to hold Jade back, "Run_ fast_ and far!" Jade shrieked and yelped in our hold, her elbow painfully colliding with my ribs, and only stopped trashing when Sinjin came up to us and said,

"Hey, Jade? As a guy who used to pick his nose-" Oh boy, "-I'm here to tell you: it gets better."

There were only a few seconds of silence, in which Jade slowly turned her glare back to Cat and began trashing again. This time Cat actually ran away, while Beck and I still tried to keep Jade in check.

Oh man, I think Jade broke my rib.

_**-OS&SD-**_

The dull chattering and quick footsteps of the people outside were only faintly to hear in the janitor's closet, but considering how quiet we were, it seemed to be the loudest thing on earth. I dared to look at a still fuming Jade, standing with her arms crossed and one foot tapping the ground right next to the door. I had eventually managed to push her into the little room after I told Beck that he should go after Cat in case Jade would try to get to her later. She had been quiet ever since, not looking at me the entire time.

"So," I slowly said, "_Did_ you pick your nose?"

Her eyes snapped to me, wide and still so unbelievingly angry. "I was scratching the side of it!"

I flinched at the loudness of her statement. "Okay. I was just asking."

"Well, don't!"

"You know, it's not the end of the world," I tried soothingly and walked closer, "So what, they think you picked your nose. You didn't do it and even if you did, it's your nose, you can do whatever you want with it. Tomorrow they probably won't even remember what they were laughing about in the first place."

She looked at me blankly. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah," I said, smiling and taking one of her hands.

"Well, good thing that they can just go to PearMaps to remind themselves of what it was that they found so funny!"

With a loud scoff, Jade ripped her hand out of mine and crossed her arms again. I stayed quiet then, for my own safety, while Jade looked at something far off in the corner. "Maybe I can get Sinjin to take the picture down," she said after a while and turned back to look at me. I smiled encouragingly and nodded my head.

"Yeah."

Her lips pursed and frown in place, Jade breathed out a long breath through her nose. "Can I come over later?"

"But… Andre-"

"Ugh, I forgot about him."

"I could come over to your place though."

"Yeah. Maybe," she mumbled absentmindedly before she made her way to the door, calling over her shoulder that she had to go. I waited a few seconds after she left before I followed her.

After all, Cat's life was at stake.

_**-OS&SD-**_

Only a few minutes after Trina and I walked through the door of our house and I fell face down on the sofa, the doorbell disturbed my attempt of getting some much needed sleep. "You get that," Trina dismissed, plopped down on the other couch and made me groan. What did I do to deserve Trina as my sister? Sometimes I really didn't know what was wrong with her. I sent her a glare as I trudged up to the door, rolled my eyes as I swung it open but felt my eyebrows shoot up when my eyes fell on Jade.

Hey, what are you doing here?"

"I talked to Sinjin," she said and didn't wait for me to invite her in, swiftly pushing past me, "He said he'll try to get the picture down tomorrow."

"That's good!"

"Oh, the picture of you picking your nose?" Trina laughed loudly. "I saw that too."

"_Okay_! We'll be in my room."

As much as Trina annoyed me right now, I _did _want to have her around for a little while longer. But considering the state Jade had been in all day, Trina wouldn't live to see the next minute if I'd let her stay in her presence. I breathed out a quiet sigh of relief when we reached my room and Jade sat down on my desk chair. "Your stupid sister with her stupidly big mouth. I swear, someday I'm gonna stuff it with her intes-"

"_Please_ don't finish that sentence," I said, wincing at the image that burned itself into my brain. Shaking my head, I sat down on my bed and let myself fall backwards. After a few minutes of silence, my desk chair creaked gently as Jade stood up, walked over to my bed and climbed on top of it to straddle me.

"Jade… no. Andre's gonna be here soon."

"He isn't yet," she murmured and started to rub my belly, "I'll get off of you as soon as I hear the doorbell."

I sighed and relaxed under her. Her nails slowly ran up and down my stomach, causing my shirt to ride up a little by the steady motion. My eyes automatically closed and I released another sigh, this time in contentment. "Hey, I have something I wanna talk about."

I cracked my eyes open to see Jade staring down at me as her nails kept scratching over the plane of my stomach. Jesus, I didn't think I could talk with her doing that. I cleared my throat. "Okay… shoot."

"I want to make it official."

"Jade, I promise I'll help you deal with this whole PearMaps thing tomorrow but not today, please. I'm so tired."

"…What? That's not what I meant."

"What did you mean then?"

She sighed loudly before she leaned down and briefly kissed me. "I mean us," she murmured, her face hovering right above me while her eyes darted back and forth between mine.

"Us…"

"_Us_, Tori. Tell everyone we're dating." With a roll of her eyes she scrambled off of me, stood up from the bed and leaned against the wall next to the window. "Is that so wrong? Don't you _want_ everyone to know?"

"No, no of course I do. I just…" I sat up, looking at her with furrowed eyebrows. "I didn't think _you_ would be the one to… you know, want to tell them about us."

"Well, your parents know, Trina knows, Noel knows… We could tell my mom next and… then everybody else."

I smiled at the thought. "We could."

Jade's eyes drifted from my bedside lamp to me. "So…?"

"_So_," I said, a smile pulling at my lips while I got off the bed and moved to where Jade was standing, "I say let's do it."

I didn't think it would be that easy. Honestly, I would have thought I needed to kick and drag her by her hair to get her to come out to her mom, to our friends and just the entire world. But this was way better. It was all coming from her and I loved it.

"Tori! Andre's here!"

I rolled my eyes as not even two seconds later piano music started filling the house. God, couldn't he have done that in school?! Groaning, I let my forehead fall onto Jade's shoulder. "Make it stop."

"Just throw him out."

"No! He's my friend! I can't do that!" I lifted my head to pout at Jade but she only rolled her eyes. "Anyway, you have to go now."

"Yeah, yeah." But she didn't move an inch, instead let her hands take the edges of my jacket. "By the way," she murmured quietly, "I love when you wear this."

I glanced down at her fingers that were tracing the 'H' on my Hollywood Arts letterman jacket and took a small step closer, eyes lifting and stopping on her lips. "My jacket?"

She hummed softly. A shiver ran down my sides as the tips of her finger moved up the side of my neck, barely even touching me but still managing to make my heart race and breath catch. "I don't know what it is about it…" My eyes fell shut when her lips brushed mine but before I could respond she pulled away again. God, did I mention how completely insane she drove me? "But it's really sexy."

With that, she yanked me into her until our mouths crashed together, lips fervently moving against each other. I moaned, a really embarrassing sound, and pulled her closer by her hips, fingers digging into the waistband of her skirt. God, no, no, no! Andre was downstairs, damn it! And… was there still music? No, there wasn't, was there? Maybe we should- Oh, who cared about Andre? This was _way _better.

"I got it! I _got-_"

The door hitting the wall and my terrified gasp as we broke the kiss was all that could be heard before the room fell into the most awkward silence to have ever existed. Jade and I, both frozen in shock, turned toward the open doorway to see Andre standing in the middle of it, looking like a deer caught in the headlights. All three of us stayed quiet, completely still, even though it probably would have been a good idea if Jade and I would have let go of each other. But we didn't. We just… stood there and let the awkwardness of the situation seep into our bones.

Why did this _always _happen to us?!

I felt Jade's hand slip from my jacket which was the cue for my hands to drop from her hips. "So, uh," I started uncomfortably, "What did you get?"

"O-Obviously not as much as you were gettin'."

And this, ladies and gentlemen, was my life.


	26. Twenty Six

"Andre-"

"What were you _doing_?"

"Oh please, what did it look like we were doing?"

"I'd say each other but I'm not gonna do that. I ain't no trashy man. I'm classy."

"Oh yeah, _classy man_," Jade scoffed and crossed her arms, "A classy man who bursts through the door like a madman and interrupts-"

"Yeah, what _did _I interrupt, huh?"

"What kind of dumb question is that? You saw it!"

"I'm not sure what I saw, maybe I was hallucinating!"

"We're a couple," I loudly blurted out, interrupting the unbearable back and forth between Andre and Jade. The room immediately fell back into the tense silence from earlier while both pairs of eyes snapped to me. Andre's gaze was unbelieving but above all really confused. Who could blame him, really? I was suddenly feeling ridiculously nervous, my fingers beginning to fiddle with each other in front of my body. "Jade… Jade is my girlfriend. We're together…"

"Y'all are… You're… Your girlfriend," he slowly repeated while his eyes darted back and forth between us, "You two are… dating?" I nodded. "But that's… how did that _happen_?"

"It's kind of a longer story, actually," I said with an awkward chuckle and glanced over at Jade. "We… knew each other from before I transferred to Hollywood Arts."

"What? Where… How?"

Before I had a chance to answer, Jade took over. "We met in elementary school, became best friends, then I moved to San Francisco and we lost contact until I moved back and two years later I ran into Tori on her first day at Hollywood Arts. There. Long story short."

"Best friends? But you were horrible to her for the first few weeks!"

"Okay, I wasn't _horrible_," Jade said, her irritation noticeably growing with every word that left Andre's mouth, "I wasn't very nice to her in the beginning but I had my reasons for it. _Reasons_," she sharply added as Andre opened his mouth to probably question what exactly those reasons were. "Which, aside from me, only have to concern Tori. So don't even bother asking."

"Okay," he almost breathed out, his voice cracking and eyebrows seemingly shooting off his head. "I think my head is exploding."

Oh man. If Andre took it that badly, how would everybody else react to it? Maybe we should wait a little while longer. Just to… be sure, to give us some time to brace ourselves for- Oh, what was I _talking_ about? Andre knew now, that meant it was just a matter of time before everyone else found out and _that _probably meant even worse reactions. Andre was just the beginning, oh my God, what would happen?! God, I was _freaking out_!

"Oh, _geez_, this is some crazy chiz," he mumbled to himself while sinking down on my bed. Using his momentary shift of attention I clung to Jade's arm in an hopeless attempt of calming my nerves.

"Jade," I urgently whispered and squeezed tightly while her almost indifferent eyes traveled from Andre to me. How could she be so freaking _calm_? Sometimes I really wondered if she was even a real human being. Why wasn't she at least a _little_ worried? Ugh, this girl. She stared at me for a moment before releasing a sigh.

"Look, Andre…" His eyes drifted back over to us, dropping down to my hand around Jade's arm for a second before looking up at Jade. "I get it that it seems really weird to you or whatever but… we don't really care, to be honest."

"Jade," I hissed and gave her arm a sharp tug. I cared!

I only received an irritated glance from her before she continued. "We're not with each other just for the heck of it. I… I care about her more than for anyone else and if you can't bring up a normal sense of… of acceptance and respect for us, then it's your problem, not ours."

"But… we do hope that you _can_ accept our relationship," I softly butted in while my hand slid down Jade's arm to take her hand. But… what would we do if he didn't? Andre was always such a chill guy, if _he_ wouldn't accept us, who would? His face still showed so much confusion, so much… trouble, I guess, but at least there wasn't any anger. He stared at us, longer than it was comfortable for me, before his eyes finally dropped to the floor. I bit my lip as he shook his head, as he leaned his elbows on his knees and ran his hand over his face.

"Man, this… this is just so weird. I mean… _you_-" He looked up, forehead crumpled, and pointed at Jade. "-were dating Beck and now you're dating… _Tori_. I don't understand, when did you decide that you liked chicks?"

"I don't like _chicks_, I like Tori," Jade snapped, mindlessly running her thumb over mine. "And what does it even matter if I like _chicks_ or not? Do you have something against-"

"No, no, no!" His eyes widened as he stood up and held up a hand. "I'm cool with you dating… whoever you want, no matter the- the parts they have… down there."

A smile threatened to break out on my face at his obvious nervousness. I glanced at Jade to see her narrow her eyes. "You mean you're okay with me dating _Tori_."

"Yes! Of course that's what I meant."

"Really?" I asked, a small smile on my lips. "We understand if you're not, you're Beck's friend after all and I get that it's a little weird. Don't feel forced to say stuff you don't mean just because you're scared of Jade."

A scoff sounded from next to me, making me turn my head. "I didn't even do anything."

"Well, sometimes you do things that scare people. Maybe you don't even realize."

"I don't realize? What does that mean? What do I do?"

"Like when you narrow your eyes or, or you glare at people. That's pretty scary."

"Oh, so you're _scared_ of me?"

"I didn't say that I was scared of you, I said some people are scared of you."

"Well, good. I like it when people are scared of me."

"Um… guys?" Andre's voice made both of us shift our attention back to him. "I'm really okay with it. I won't lie, Jade scares the chiz out of me sometimes, but… if y'all are happy with each other, why would I have anything against it? Whatever floats your boat is fine with me."

I couldn't stop the small squeal from escaping as I launched forward and threw my arms around Andre's neck to gather him into a massive hug. "This really means the world to me," I happily exclaimed into his shoulder and heard him chuckle, "Thank you so much."

The relaxed smile that usually inhabited Andre's face was back when I pulled away from him. Well, thank the heavens. "When are you going to tell the others though?"

Jade and I shared a look. "Well… we were actually planning to do it soon-"

"Before you barged in and flipped out on us."

"-but um… we haven't really thought about how to do it yet. I mean, first we're going to start with Jade's mom, of course, but I don't think that will be so hard."

Andre's brows furrowed. "You don't?"

"No."

"But like… aren't parents usually the hardest to convince?" His eyes suddenly widened as they flicked over to Jade. "Not that I think that your mom is homophobic but just… you know what I mean…"

I chuckled while Jade rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "I think she'll be okay with it," I said, turning back to Andre, "My parents were totally cool with it. And besides, she knows me for so long, I don't think anything can go wrong."

"Right," he mumbled, eyebrows furrowing again as he glanced at the floor, "I forgot about… elementary school and you two…-" While releasing a huge breath he broke off, looked back up and shook his head. "This is just really _a lot_. I think I'm just going to go back to working on my song, if that's cool with you?"

"Yeah, yeah sure. Go ahead."

"Okay." He smiled, rubbing his hands together while he walked backwards toward the door. "Then you can… continue or whatever."

Before he closed the door Jade called after him, causing him to stick his head back into the room. "No word to anyone, understood?"

Andre shook his head, eyebrows shooting up. "Oh no, no of course not! I won't say anything."

Jade nodded and let out a sigh as soon as the door closed. "Well… at least we have one out of the way."

"This was so awkward though," I said and sat down on the edge of my bed, "I was so scared he wouldn't accept it."

"Whatever, he did. And now that he knows…" A suggestive smirk danced around her lips as she trailed off, the tone of her voice making it hard for me not to blush. She sauntered over to me and lowered herself on my lap. "It's safe for me to stay," she whispered against my mouth, those darn shivers from earlier returning when her lips brushed against mine with every word she said. I gently returned the kiss she gave me, but soon pulled away with a low whine.

"You can't stay now."

"Sure I can."

"No, you can't. I just think… it's still a huge thing to Andre and maybe… maybe I should talk to him some more, you know? Just to make sure he understands."

"What is there not to understand? Besides, we're not his freaking parents, we don't need to explain anything to him."

"No, of course not, but I just wanna make sure he's really fine with it. I want him to feel comfortable when he's around us."

Her eyes narrowed. "So you really want me to go now?"

Now, I knew there were two answers I could give, one of which _could_ result into Jade angrily storming out of the house, which then again could turn into her refusing to speak to me until I somehow made it up to her. And while I was completely aware of that, I chose the answer that could give me the most trouble. "…Yes?"

"That means you rather want to spend your time with Andre than with me? With your girlfriend?"

Oh, I knew it. "No, it means that I want to make sure that _our_ friend is okay with us dating."

Her head tipped back, eyes closed as if in pain, mouth releasing a groan. "He _is _okay with it. You're so annoying, Tor."

"I am _not_ annoying! I just want to make sure he's okay!"

"Blah blah _blah_ blah blah blah blah!"

Placing my hands each on Jade's hip and thigh, I gave her a hard push and scooted back on the bed at the same time, smirking when I heard a yelp and a gentle thump as Jade hit the ground. When she glared up at me from her place on the floor, one eye hidden by thick black hair, I stuck my tongue out at her. "Vega," she growled but my smile immediately dropped when she tried to get up and I saw her wince.

"What's wrong? Did you hurt yourself?"

A hiss escaped her as she rubbed her right wrist. "I think I sprained it. Help me up," she ordered and of course I wasted no time in grabbing her outstretched left hand to get her to her feet.

"Jade, I'm so-" My sentence finished with a loud gasp when Jade yanked at my hand, which caused me to lose my balance and tumble right on top of her. I gaped at her as she began to laugh.

"You're so gullible. It's great."

"Yeah, ha ha. So funny. I thought you were hurt!"

"That's what you get for pushing me off."

"You deserved it."

"_You deserved it_!"

"That's- I don't talk like that!"

"_Oh dear lord, how dare you say that I speak that way?"_

"What? That's not the way I-"

I kept talking even when Jade pulled me down for a kiss, my words a muffled mess against her mouth and the kiss not really the most enjoyable one we ever had. "It doesn't even make any sense. You-" But Jade didn't give up either, placing peck after peck against my moving mouth, biting my lower lip and using her hand that was resting on the back of my head to push me even more into her. Eventually, I just gave up while letting out a small sigh. There was no way I could have ever won this round. Kissing Jade was just way too enjoyable. When I felt her tongue run over my lip however, I reluctantly pulled away.

Jade groaned loudly. "What now?!"

"You really have to go now," I told her regretfully, her eyes immediately snapping open.

"You've got to be kidding me."

"I'm not! I told you, you couldn't stay."

With a roll of her eyes and a quiet "Fine," Jade pushed me off of her and stood up. I sat up, reached my hand out so that she could help me but all Jade did was stare at me with her arms crossed. It was my turn to roll my eyes, getting to my feet without her help. "You can be such a gank sometimes," I mumbled while I first brushed down the front of my legs, then the back. I looked at Jade to find her looking at me with one eyebrow raised. "What? It's true."

She smiled and rolled her eyes. "You're bringing me to the door," she stated and turned on her heel, walking out of the door and making me instantly follow her.

"You're so bossy."

"I'm not bossy!"

"You are. Not all the time. Just… sometimes."

"Well, I'm sorry that I'm such an inconvenience to you. I didn't think bringing me to the door would be so troublesome."

"It's not," I laughed as we walked down the stairs, Andre's fingers stilling on the piano keys and head turning to look at us, "I would have brought you to the door without you telling me."

"Yeah, sure. You say that now." We got to the door, where she turned to me with a sigh. I smiled at her while I opened the door and held it open.

"I could walk you to your car, if you want," I offered teasingly, to which Jade narrowed her eyes at me.

"Are you making fun of me?"

"No! I wouldn't _dare_."

"Just shut up."

I laughed and leaned forward to kiss her goodbye. "I'll call you later."

"Not gonna promise that I'll pick up," she said with a light smirk before she walked out. Only when I heard the roar of her engine and the sound of her pulling out of the driveway, speeding away, did I close the door.

"You seem like a great couple."

I jumped and whirled around. God, I totally forgot Andre was here! I hesitantly smiled and walked over to him. "Thanks."

I rested my forearms on top of the piano and watched Andre hesitate before he asked, "So… how is it?"

My eyebrows creased. "How is what?"

"Dating Jade."

"Oh. Um… it's…" Well, what did he want to hear? Being with Jade was… incredible. What else was there to say? "It's great. I love being around her."

He slowly nodded. His eyes dropped to the piano keys for a moment before they snapped back up, wide and curious. "Was Jade always this scary?"

I let out a laugh. I really should have expected something along those lines. "Not really, no."

"Ooooh, can you tell me a couple of embarrassing stories about her? That would make my day!"

"I most definitely could," I said, nodding, and rounded the piano to take a seat next to Andre, "But then we would both end up dead so… no."

He made a slight sound of disapproval in the back of his throat, then clicked his tongue and shrugged his shoulders. "That's a shame."

"Tell me about it."

"Does _she_ have embarrassing stories about _you_?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "You wouldn't dare."

"Not if you help me with my song," he said with a smile and soon enough, his fingers began moving over the piano keys once more, the house filling with music again.

* * *

_A/N:_

_ chase19: *aggressively hugs you back*  
_

_wikster: No, she doesn't look that good in every jacket. That jacket in particular is just... I mean, just look at her in it. I don't even know. I just... I _love_ that jacket, if you couldn't tell yet. :P_

_CheesyDip15: Great to see I'm back? Did I go somewhere?_


	27. Twenty Seven

"So is he gonna keep quiet?"

I bit my lip and leaned my shoulder against the narrow wall next to Jade's locker, while I watched Cat bounce down the corridor in her 'Moon Boots', her newest purchase from Sky Store. "I think so. I mean, he promised us." Cat's shrill giggles were still so loud even though she had long disappeared from my sight. I turned my attention to Jade. "But what would be so bad if he didn't? I thought you wanted to make it official."

Jade closed her locker, glanced around herself and turned to me. "Yeah, I do but I want _us_ to do it, not someone who's probably in the boys' bathroom right now, fantasizing about us."

I blushed and shifted on my feet. "It's Andre."

"Yeah, and Andre is still a teenage boy," she said with a pointed look and took a sip from her coffee. "I personally think it's really cute how innocent you are sometimes but, really Tori. Don't be so naïve. He's probably jerki-"

"_Okay,_ I don't need to know that!"

Jade smirked in satisfaction. God, I absolutely _hated_ how much she loved to make me uncomfortable. "Whatever. I need to meet up with Sinjin now." The cup of coffee was pushed into my hands, a bowl of… bush peas Jade picked up from the floor replacing it in her own hands.

"What do you want with all these peas?" I slowly asked her, even though I wasn't sure if I really wanted to know the answer.

Jade simply shrugged. "It's punishment. For Cat."

She walked past me then, leaving me actually worrying about Cat's health. Hopefully those peas weren't poisoned…

_**-OS&SD-**_

"We have to get to-" I squeaked as white teeth scraped against my neck, drawing a gasp from me when they gently bit my skin. "-class."

"One more minute," Jade muttered breathlessly while her hands traveled under my shirt, nails _scratching_ my back and _God_, I couldn't do anything else but press myself more into her. Jade's lips tilted into a smile as she pressed them to my collarbone. "Thought you'd agree."

"I don't… You don't leave me another choice."

"It's not my fault that you don't have your hormones under control. You're the one who dragged me in here."

"Because I wanted a hug."

Jade laughed, hot breath hitting my skin, and amused eyes lifting to look into my own. "Yeah right."

"It's true. You- mmm…"

Warm lips quickly cut me off, sharp fingernails making me shiver with the way they dragged across my skin and hips keeping me tightly pressed against the door of the janitor's closet. I felt her hands move along my back, further up and further up still, while a warm tongue slipped into my mouth. A moan rumbled in my throat as I arched my back, Jade's fingers tracing the underside of my bra and- and- Oh, I should really stop her but… God, dang it!

"We can't," I gasped out as soon as I managed to rip my mouth away from Jade's, "We're in school and I- And you- And I'm not ready yet!"

The gentle nips Jade placed against my jawline ceased immediately. She pulled her head away, looked up at me with furrowed eyebrows. "Not ready for what?"

I could still feel her fingers ghosting over the skin of my back, _right_ under my bra. Taking a deep breath, I shook my head. "Not ready for… for… well, you know what!"

The creases on Jade's forehead deepened, her eyes searching mine questioningly. "I don't know what you're talking about, to be honest," she slowly admitted while her hands slid down to my lower back and _man_, they were so warm and soft and- What? Focus, Tori!

"I'm not ready for… for _sex_!"

"Yeah, I… that's okay. But I still don't understand why you bring thi- Oh."

Eyes dropped to the floor and a smile tugged her mouth into a smile while she bit down on her lower lip. I frowned and slumped against the door when her hands left my body and smoothed over my shirt. "You're such an idiot," she said with a chuckle and looked back up at me, "Do you really think I'm going to take your virginity in a filthy closet? In school? Where anyone can hear and walk in anytime they want?"

"I… Well, when you say it like that…"

Jade let out a quiet laugh, her forehead falling into the crook of my neck. "You're so stupid!"

I pouted. "I'm not! I just thought… Yeah, maybe I am a _little _stupid."

She laughed against my neck, her shoulders lightly shaking and arms tightening around me. "I love you anyway." I tensed a little, my eyes snapping up to fix on the wall opposite from us. My heart was suddenly beating so fast, my throat tightening and chest tingling. I didn't think it would feel so… amazing, so exhilarating almost, the first time she'd say those three words to me. After letting out a deep sigh, Jade pulled away from me, smiling and looking at me – I dare to say – fondly. "Or maybe because of it. I'm not sure."

My heart was fluttering wildly as my lips tilted into an almost unbelieving smile. "You said it," I said quietly and fell even more against the door behind me. It wasn't like I thought she'd never say it out loud, but there was always that awareness of how she was, how she always had been, really. I knew Jade was someone who couldn't always say what they feel, so naturally, I thought it would take quite a while for her to utter those words. And I was okay with that, I really was. Jade loved me, she showed me that in her… own weird ways sometimes. I'd see it in her eyes, feel it in her touch, and was reminded of it by her kisses. Still, it was just _nice_ to finally hear it.

She looked at me, confused. "I said what?"

"That you love me."

"And?"

"Well… nothing. I just… It was nice to hear you say it, that's all."

"Oh." She seemed to think about something before she shrugged her shoulders. "I said it before."

"Uh… No, you didn't."

"Yes, I did."

"Not really, no. Not since we began dating."

"Oh," she said again, slowly and confused, as if she couldn't really believe what I had told her. "But… I said it now."

I smiled, nodded. "You sure did."

"So don't leave me hanging! Say it back!"

"That's not very romantic," I said with a laugh and watched her roll her eyes.

"We're in a closet! Of course it's not romantic."

"Hey, we're kinda always in a closet. Get it? Because we-"

"Oh my God, kill me!"

"What? It's true!"

"Anyway, let's get back to the matter at hand." Her hands that had previously managed to get my brain completely smushed, moved to my hips, her thumbs slipping under my shirt to gently graze my skin. "Does it make you uncomfortable when I touch or kiss you like I did? You have to tell me. I'll stop."

"No! Please don't stop." Her raised eyebrow and amused smirk told me that my response must have been way too eager. I blushed. "I mean… you're not making me uncomfortable."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm… _very_ sure, trust me."

"Good." After only a couple of seconds I felt her lips against the shell of my ear, her husky voice low and seductive as she said, "You can touch me too, you know. Anywhere you want."

Oh. My. God.

"Yeah, I-I-I… that's-" I pushed her away, my face getting even hotter when I saw the teasing smile and glint in Jade's eyes. "_Thank_ you," I dumbly said with a laugh and punched her bare arm, to which Jade's amusement only seemed to double. "I, um… take you up on that offer. You know, when I… when… _Anyway_!" God, Tori, chill out! "We _really _need to get to class now. Um… is… We're still going to your house later, right?"

Jade's face dropped all of sudden. "Right, about that… Maybe we shouldn't… do this today."

"What? Why not? I thought we wanted to tell your mom today."

"Yeah, but… maybe we should wait a little bit?" she offered weakly, questioningly. "I mean… Besides, she's probably going to be at work anyway."

"Oh. Well, I'm sure we can catch her before she leaves for work."

"I don't think we can."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Jade…"

"What? We won't catch her, I know it."

"Okay. Wanna bet?"

Jade scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Whatever, sure. If you so badly want to lose."

_**-OS&SD-**_

"You're home…"

"Yes, but I'll be gone in a second. I have to get to work."

Jade's mom flitted across the living room to get her keys from the coffee table, glancing up at me with a smile. "Hello, Tori."

I wiggled my fingers at her in a small wave, then, when her back was turned, looked at Jade and nudged her side with my elbow. I was surprised to see Jade's eyes carry something that could almost resemble fear or maybe anxiety, hesitation at the very least. She shook her head at me, her lips pressed together tightly and forehead creased in worry. There was nothing for her to be scared of, I really didn't understand why she was so freaked out about letting her mother know about us. So I frowned and turned back to Jade's mother. "Do you maybe have a minute for us? We'd like to tell you something."

"No, we don't. We don't want to waste your time."

"No, of course not but-"

"We don't need your minute."

"Yes, we do!"

"_No_, we don't."

She glared at me threateningly but I didn't even think of cowering away. Instead, I tried my best to match her dangerous gaze.

"Okay, now you made me curious. What's up?" We both turned to Jade's mom who was now perched on the armrest of the sofa, her slightly narrowed eyes flicking back and forth between us. "Are you in trouble?"

"Well, Tori sure is now," Jade mumbled quietly, although loud enough for her mom to hear. I gasped, eyebrows furrowing and mouth gaping as I looked at Jade's tense face before I turned back to the older woman, who now looked at me with her eyebrows raised.

"No," I said, shaking my head, "No, I'm not in trouble."

"Is Jade?"

"Uh, hello? I'm right here, you can ask _me_."

"I'd much rather ask Tori since I can't be sure that you'll tell me the truth."

Oh, man. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, please Jade. Do we really need to start about your piercings again? Or that tattoo?"

"Yeah, I know. I'm _such_ a bad daughter."

"I didn't even say that! Stop putting words into my mouth."

"_Anyway_," I cut in sharply before this would turn into something bigger. Who knows what else those two would dig out... "No one is in trouble," I reassured and watched Jade's mom relax slightly, "We'd just like to tell you something. About us. Something about us."

"And what would that be?"

I lightly smiled, then turned to Jade. But she stayed completely quiet, looking away from me, from her mother, as if this wasn't even involving her at all. "Go," I hissed, again nudging her with my elbow and again receiving an intense glare.

"I don't want to!"

"She's your mother, you should be able to tell her!"

"I am, I'm just not in the mood right now!"

"_Do_. _It_."

"Fine," she relented petulantly, arms crossed and frown in place as she turned to her mom. "Tori and I… We want to tell you that…"

Ms. Halliwell leaned forward a bit, the curiosity on her face growing. "What? Spit it out, Jade!"

"We're dating!"

The tense silence that followed was deafening, for lack of a better word, and now even I was getting a little nervous. Jade's mom was looking back and forth between the two of us, eyebrows raised and lips parted. Then, she leaned back and nodded her head.

"Oh. Okay."

Jade was quick, a nervous flicker in her voice. "Okay what?"

"Okay… okay."

"But what does that mean?"

"It means okay! What else could it mean?"

"It could… I don't know," she weakly said, shrugging her shoulders while a slow smile began forming on my lips. "So… you're okay with it…"

The older woman scoffed and stood up, keys jingling in her hand. "Well, of course! What did you think, that I'd throw you out because you're dating a girl?"

By the way Jade was shifting her weight on her feet and her eyes looked anywhere but directly at her mom, I could see how stupid she felt for, probably, maybe, really thinking that. "No, of course not," she mumbled quietly, "I was just… nervous."

"You don't have to be. And you should really know that." With a sigh she walked up to us, sent me a smile and Jade a pointed look. "I'm happy for you. _But_ I really need to get going now. I'm already late." I smirked as Jade's mom left the room, a "Have fun, girls!" the last thing we heard before the front door slammed shut and we were alone in the house. Feeling an utter sense of satisfaction bubble up inside of me I poked Jade's ribs, smirk widening when she swatted my hand away.

"You're such a _scaredy cat_", I sung with a huge grin on my face and actually relished in seeing a scowl on Jade's face.

"Shut up."

"Scaaaredy cat!"

"Tori, I swear to God, if you don't stop-"

"Oh," I laughed at her threatening tone and took a step back, "I'm so scared! What are you going to do to me?"

You do _not_ want to know what she did to me…

* * *

_A/N: Andrea: Oh, I'm sorry for keeping you from eating and sleeping, but thank you! And thank you for shipping us, I guess. :P  
_


	28. Twenty Eight

_Heavily influenced by 'Sleepover at Sikowitz's'._

_This was supposed to be longer _but_...__ I don't have the second part finished yet (there are parts in the middle with which I'm not pleased yet) because I have 'I Feel Pretty/Unpretty' stuck in my head and I can't freaking concentrate, it's so annoying! Anyway, the next chapter will be the continuation of this one (obviously, duh. What am I talking about?)._

_And before you ask what Jade did to Tori... just let your imagination run wild!_

_Enjoy!_

* * *

"That challenge is your entire fault."

"My fault?" I stopped walking and looked at her with creased eyebrows. "How is this my fault?"

Jade sighed loudly, turned around and walked back to me. "I love you and all but your acting just sucks big time."

"It does _not_!"

Yeah okay, maybe I wasn't the most talented actress of this school but I sure wasn't the worst. Plus, acting wasn't even the field I wanted to be in, no, singing was my forte.

"Yeah, it does," Jade deadpanned, crossing her arms. "And that's fine, I guess. As long as you don't want to pursue a serious acting career."

I should probably be offended now… weirdly enough, I'm not. Still, I said, "If I wanted to, I could definitely make it as a serious actress."

One eyebrow lifted in challenge. "You're an amateur, Tori. That's what you are."

The word that previously had been spoken by Sikowitz in an attempt to taunt us and now left Jade's mouth rang loudly in my head. Oh, she shouldn't have said that. "I am not an amateur," I almost growled and stepped closer to her until our noses were only an inch apart. "I'm just as talented as you are, _amateur_."

"Don't. Call me. That."

I smiled smugly when I pulled away, eyebrows raised and head tilted as I watched the playfulness on Jade's face slowly dissipate, a light scowl taking over. It probably shouldn't amuse me so much but… there was something about an angry Jade that was just… highly entertaining. And _very_ attractive. "Amateur."

A long, loud breath made her nostrils widen, while blue eyes hotly glowered at me. "Be careful, _Tori_," my name left her mouth through gritted teeth, my blood pumping faster through my veins at the sound, "You're walking on thin ice right now. _Very_. Thin. Ice."

Hands stemmed on my hips, lips pursed and eyebrows furrowed I ignored her words and glare and instead said, "I think you should be a little nicer to your girlfriend. In fact, maybe you should be a little nicer to everyone."

Jade took a step closer. "Oh really?"

I smiled innocently. "Oh, isn't it just wonderful that I'm the one Sikowitz chose to pick your character? I already know _exactly_ who you're going to be."

I walked past her with, admittedly, a little too smug of a smirk but man, this was just too much fun. "What? Who? Tori, wait!"

"Oh baby, don't be so impatient," I teased when Jade had caught up with me and we were walking across the parking lot, on our way to get lunch at Nozu, "You're gonna find out soon enough."

We were quiet the remaining way to her car, a sort of silence that made my smirk only widen. "If you make me act like Cat," she said while she unlocked her car for us, "You're going to be a dead girl, Vega."

I scoffed, getting into the car. "Don't worry. I have an even _better_ idea."

_**-OS&SD-**_

"Okay uh, Tori's character will be a cop who wears way too much red lipstick and is obsessed with Raisin bran."

"Where did you come up with that?"

"Well," Andre chuckled, "See, I had this dream last night and this lady cop was all like-" He laughed and made a gesture with his hands. "-She was all like… and then I was like-" His smile suddenly dropped when he saw the looks I and everybody else were giving him. "I just thought of it."

Huh. Well, okay then. "Alright, Tori," Sikowitz called and I jumped up from my seat, "Tell us what Jade will be."

I walked up to the front, turned around with a smile and looked at Jade. "Love to." The look she sent me was priceless. "Jade will be an innocent farm girl from Alabama who's always super sweet and nice and never gets upset about anything."

Jade's expression was blank. "I'd rather slam my tongue in a car door."

Well.

With Cat as a standup comedian from the 1980's who's very annoying, Robbie as a motivational speaker who drank a weird beverage that makes his leg weak and wobbly, Beck as an English man whose accent is really hard to understand and who's always invading people's personal space and Andre as a marathon runner who's nine months pregnant, who knows what Friday night would bring…

_**OS&SD**_

"Doorbell," I yelled, after shoving another handful of Raisin Bran into my mouth. Man, I was already sick of it.

Sikowitz jumped up from behind his kitchen counter. "I'll get it!"

When he opened the door I watched Cat walk in, microphone in one hand. "What I wanna know," she started in a weird accent and walked into the room, "is what part of the chicken do the nuggets come from. Can someone tell me this please? Where's the wacky farm that raises nugget chickens?"

After Sikowitz invited her inside, Cat came straight up to me. "And don't let me get started on airplane food."

"I noticed that you're a standup comedienne," I loudly informed her and threw some cereal into my mouth.

"Where's the beef?!"

I wasn't quite sure what to respond to that so I simply said, "I am a police officer. Would you like to join me on a handful of Raisin Bran?"

"What's the deal with Raisin Bran? Is it raisins? Is it bran? I wanna know!"

Robbie joined us shortly after, talking to us in a weird, strangled voice, while Andre panted and moaned about having a baby. Beck arrived a little later, introducing himself as Malcolm Winchester Figglesworth and really, he rocked the British accent. I couldn't understand _anything_ as he played with Sikowitz's hair and led him to the window at the end of the room. The door stood open and just as I was about to close it, Jade came walking through, the biggest smile imaginable on her face.

Oh, this was going to be fun.

"Hey! You!"

Jade turned around after closing the door, faking surprise as she placed her hand on her chest. "Oh, why hello, Officer! Isn't this just a lovely shindig?"

"I can see your belly button," I said loudly while pointing to her exposed midriff. Jade looked down, a breath escaping her overly widely smiling mouth as she looked back up at me.

"Why yes, that is my belly button!"

"Have you ever considered filling it with Raisin Bran?"

"Well… no. My name is Betty Sue Goldenheart. I live on a farm in Alabama, just north of a little-"

She was stopped when I shoved a handful of cereal into her mouth which was actually a very efficient way to shut Jade… or Betty, up. "Now you're eating Raisin Bran," I told her with a satisfied smirk and watched her chew with a strained smile.

"Mhmm, I just love eating cereal that's been manhandled by your _filthy_ hands!"

The next hour was spent with us walking around Sikowitz's apartment and 'getting to know' each other, Robbie falling to the floor every so often and Andre desperately trying to stay in character while dealing with his grandma on the phone. No one was even close to breaking character. I walked up to Beck, who was running his hands over a statue, and swallowed another mouthful of Raisin Bran. "I need your license and registration!"

"Oh. Sorry, dear constable," he said and returned the statue back to its previous place on the shelf before he turned to me. He told me he didn't have any of that on him, then started to cup my face and touch my hair. "Why don't you stop invading my personal space?" I yelled and then offered him some of my Raisin Bran.

"I'm game, so why don't you pop it down into my mouth?"

I did so, stuffing cereal into his mouth the same way as I did to Jade earlier, before I heard-

"Well!" I snapped my head toward the loud voice. Great. Now I was in trouble. The smile on Jade's face wasn't any indicator to how she was really feeling inside, neither was the happy look in her eyes. Still, I somehow knew she wasn't very happy with me. "Aren't you two havin' a fun time eating Raisin Bran together."

Beck mumbled something around his mouthful of Raisin Bran, causing Jade to saunter over to us. "Just be careful now, Mr. British man. 'Cause who knows what terrible things might happen to you if that continues."

"Lady," I tried, but was quickly cut off by Jade's abnormally happy voice.

"Why Officer, why don't we tell these lovely people here what really goes on between us?" What? What was happening now? She wasn't really insinuating what- Was she really- Oh my God, Jade! "I'm sure they would love to know how wonderful it was when you visited me in Alabama."

"Why don't you have some Raisin Bran, Betty? It's delicious," I pushed out warningly, reached into the cereal box and lifted my full hand to stuff that incredibly big mouth of hers. Before I could do that though, Jade snatched my wrist, pulled me closer and planted her mouth on mine. I wasn't able to do anything but let her do what she did. My red painted lips felt Jade's own curve into a big smile, my ears hearing a gasp, followed by:

"Would you look at Miss Goldenheart and the police officer! What is going on there? I wanna _know_!"

"We should all just love each other, let the _love_ flow through our bodies, making our brains _explode_ with positivity!"

"Ooooh, I think my water just broke!"

Our lips parted with a smack, the room falling into a loud silence. Unlike myself, Jade was smirking as she used her fingers to wipe away the red print my mouth left all over her lips, slowly, and with her eyes not leaving my own shocked ones.

This was _not_ how I imagined this to go. Oh my God, it's out! What was going to happen now? Oh, maybe they think that kiss was just part of the role we're playing! Yes! It was just simple Improv! Everything would be good and-

What was I talking about? This was actually the best thing that could have happened. It was out in the open now, it wasn't in our hands anymore. And at least… they couldn't really say anything about us without breaking character so… Ugh, Tori, stop it now! This wasn't good at all! God, sometimes I could _strangle_ that girl.

"Holy Gandhi."

Wedging my lip between my teeth I followed Jade's gaze that was resting on a wide-eyed Sikowitz, mouth standing open and eyebrows all the way up. "That was unexpected."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Sikowitz," Jade exclaimed excitedly, wide smile on her lips, "Where are my manners?"

She laughed while I slowly pulled out some Raisin Bran. "Probably still in Alabama," I muttered before shoving the dry food into my mouth. Jade glanced over at me, smile not faltering.

"You see, Officer Pedesko and I have a _long_ history together! When we were younger, we used to milk the cows together on my farm in Alabama! Afterwards we would indulge ourselves in a good bowl of Raisin Bran!"

"Dear, I'm not quite following," Beck cut in from behind me and- Oh my God, Beck! His eyes were narrowed, so incredibly thin as he looked at the ever so smiling Jade. "Is it you and her and her and you in the way as I am thinking or am I going bonkers right now?"

"Wait," Cat said in her normal voice, to which we all turned to her. She had her head tilted, eyebrows furrowed and microphone hanging loosely in her hand. "Did Tori and Jade kiss or did Officer Pedesko and Betty kiss? I'm confused."

"Cat! Yoooouu're out!"

"Phooey!"

She trudged to the door with a pout, but stopped and turned around before she could leave. "But I'm still confused! Can't I stay?"

Sikowitz walked over to her and held the door open. "Noooo! Goodbye, Cat."

Despite Sikowitz's words, her face lit up. "Bye," she cheerily said and waved at all of us before skipping out of the door. Sikowitz closed the door with a sigh, turned around and leaned against the dark wood and fixed his curious gaze on me. "So, Officer-"

I was saved by the bell, literally. Sikowitz turned around to reopen the door, probably for Cat who forgot something, but instead of the small redhead, Andre's grandma stood in the doorway. What... What was she doing here? Her eyes widened as she saw Sikowitz, a loud "I don't know you!" reverberating through the hallway outside while she ran away.

Oh boy, what _else_ was going to happen today?!

* * *

_A/N: Oh man, almost forgot._

_lovebug141: *signs your paper* Haha, thanks!_

_wikster: :O That is so not fair! I do see what a great catch you are! But you still have so much to do before I can fully let you in. :P_


	29. Twenty Nine

"If you don't mind me asking, I'd love to know what the snogging between you two lovely ladies was all about."

God damn it! Really, he had to talk about it _now_? I turned my attention from Sikowitz, who was leaning against the door, to Beck, who looked at Jade and me with narrowed eyes, furrowed brows and parted lips. Well… What was I supposed to say? How was I supposed to explain to the ex-boyfriend of my current girlfriend that I was now dating his ex-girlfriend when I wasn't even myself right now? I couldn't _do_ anything when I was still in character!

"Oh, but Mr. Figglesworth! It's really not polite to pry into other people's businesses where I come from!"

Jade. How badly I wanted to kill her. "Why don't we all have a handful of Raisin Bran? It always brings my mood up a notch!" I shoved the cereal carton into Beck's chest, however not managing to bring his bewildered gaze away from us. With just one long step the freaky Brit was standing between me and Jade, his back turned to me while he fixed his attention on the sweet farm girl.

"I beg your pardon, dear madam, but I do believe this is my business too."

The smile on Jade's face was sickly sweet while simultaneously extremely provoking. Of course. Leave it to _Jade_ to want to make the situation only worse. "Is it?" An airy laugh left her lips while she stemmed her hands on her hips. "Well, aren't you a funny gentleman! I wish I had one of you on my farm in Alabama! For entertainment! It can get pretty boring sometimes but I still _love _to milk my cow! Her name is Wendy. I have her since she was a skinny little calf. Do you wanna see a picture?"

"I'm sure it's a lovely creature but I'd really rather want to talk about Officer Pedesko and those bright red lips of hers."

It was Robbie who came up to us and tried to defuse the situation a little. "Why don't we just all take us by the hands, so that we can _feel_ the energy in our bloodstream, turn anger into joy and joy into _blinding _bliss!"

"This is getting out of hand," I loudly stated and gave my Raisin Bran box an aggressive shake, "I have a gun and I'm not afraid to use it!"

That shut everyone up, surprisingly, as all eyes turned to me in shock. Huh. Well, that was easy! "I think we should all have some Raisin Bran to calm our nerves!"

Just on cue the doorbell rang once again and when Sikowitz opened the door, he revealed, for the second time today, Andre's grandma. Well, so much for calm our nerves…

"Where's Andre?!"

Sikowitz chuckled uncomfortably. "Well… Well that's a dilly of a pickle."

"I don't eat pickles!"

"Ah, no. You see… Andre, per se, isn't… here."

"I see him right there," she yelled, pointing her finger in Andre's direction, who just came back from the bathroom. The loud woman pushed past Sikowitz, past Beck who started to throw his arm over her and talked to her in his incomprehensible accent and finally stopped in front of her grandson. "Andre! Why'd you play games with me over the telephone?"

"Oh ma'am, I'm _not_ Andre! I'm a marathon runner who also happens to be-"

Only now she noticed the obviously bigger belly Andre was sporting. "Oh my God, who did that?!"

"Grandma, listen. I'm doing a method acting exercise. I need you to leave-"

A wrong buzzer sound out of Sikowitz's mouth interrupted him from finishing his sentence.

"Andre! You broke character."

"Come on, it's not my fault she came over here-"

"Come with me!" Andre's grandma's voice could still be heard, lecturing poor Andre about his nonexistent pregnancy, even long after she dragged her grandson out of the apartment and Robbie closed the door behind them. I stuffed some Raisin Bran into my mouth – God, was I sick of that – while Robbie took a deep breath.

"See what can happen if you don't believe in yourself? He could have easily become everything he wanted, his _child_ can become whatever he or she wants! Isn't that just amazing, the wonders of childbirth? _Our_ children _will_ be the future if they just _believe-_"

Aaand then he was on the floor. I guess that's what jelly legs do to you. I shook my head and walked over to Sikowitz's sofa, plopped down and started shoving cereal in my mouth. As I was chewing, I turned around to see Beck helping Robbie up, his hands fixing the motivator's tie before patting his curly hair while babbling on and on about something incomprehensible.

"Ah, sweet farm girl?" I heard Sikowitz say just as I turned back around. "Would you mind getting the tray of Quesadillas from the kitchen?"

"Oh, why I wouldn't mind at all!"

The next thing I heard was Sikowitz yelling something, followed by a loud shout from Jade and a clang of metal. I whirled around, eyebrows furrowing.

"My goodness, that tray was hot!" Oh… Oh my God! Was… Was there _smoke_ rising from her hand?! "Oh! Well, lookie there! My skin's startin' to blister! And I do believe that's the sweet smell of my burning flesh!"

"Jade, perhaps I should drive-"

"Who's Jade?! My name is Betty Sue Goldenheart, a happy farm girl who's experiencing extreme pain right now. Ahhh…"

Then she went straight past Sikowitz, opened the door and walked out. I slowly stood up from the sofa and walked over to Sikowitz, who looked out into the hallway with a look of awe, almost. "And yet she never broke character," he said in admiration, slightly shaking his head. A second later however, the sound of glass shattering made him flinch and Jade's normal voice boomed,

"_Move this car!"_

"You broke character," Sikowitz shouted after her, the sound of a car alarm loud in our ears.

"And the neighbor's car window," I added before Sikowitz pushed me back into the apartment. Wait, I probably should go after Jade. She's hurt for God's sake! It wasn't the smartest thing to do to just leave her alone now. Right? I mean… Yes, of course, Tori! There's really no question! The cereal box I had carried with me the entire evening was promptly shoved into Robbie's hands before I turned to Sikowitz, who seemed startled as I started to loudly tell him that I had to go.

"I'm sorry, sir, but as an officer I see it as my duty to accompany this young lady to the hospital. Have a good night, gentlemen!"

I heard Sikowitz call after me but I kept going until I was out on the street, looking left and right down the sidewalk. Jade's car was still standing in front of Sikowitz's home, untouched in front of the car whose alarm was still blaring through the street. A loud curse however, made my head whip down the right side of the street where I could barely see Jade's retreating figure storming down the sidewalk. I immediately took off in a sprint, shouting after her, even if I didn't receive a reaction from her.

"Jade! Jade, wait! Slow down!" It didn't take long for me to catch up with her and when I did, I could hear her heavy breathing, see the way her teeth were pressed together. "Hey," I breathed, wrapping my hand around her elbow, "Slow down."

"I can't," she hissed out through gritted teeth, "My hand fucking _hurts_!"

"I know. But stop for just a second." She did so with a heavy sigh, looked up into the dark night sky while gently stomping her foot. As carefully as I could I took her burned hand and slowly lifted it to take a closer look. I heard her take in a sharp breath and winced when my eyes fell on the severely blistered skin of Jade's palm. "Gosh, this looks really bad…"

"No shit, Sherlock." She sniffled quietly and used her other hand to massage her forehead. "I can't drive with this. Just… just go back and let me go to a freaking doctor!"

I frowned and tore my gaze away from Jade's blistered skin. "I'm not gonna leave you alone. I'll take you to a hospital. Besides, I broke character now so why should I even bother going back?"

The light blue of her eyes was glittering under the thin layer of tears as she blankly looked at me. I sent her a gentle smile, lifted my hand to cup her cheek and ran my thumb over her cheekbone. "Don't cry, baby."

Jade scoffed and turned her head away. "I'm not crying, it just fucking hurts! A lot!"

"Okay, right. Sorry. Then let's go," I said and hooked my arm through hers. We began to walk to the nearest bus station in silence, aside from the occasional hiss or sniffle from Jade. It was only when we were sitting in the bus, her staring out of the window with her teeth clamping down on her lip, that I dared to address her stupid coming out to our friends.

"So," I started, tilting my head a little in an attempt to catch her eyes. I didn't, only saw them flicker up. "What were you thinking, just kissing me like that?"

Okay, I really should learn to keep my mouth shut in certain, slightly delicate, situations. Maybe then I would avoid getting that incredulous glare Jade was sending me right now again. "Are you really going to _lecture_ me now, while my hand feels as if it might fall off any second?"

"No, I-"

"Beck was flirting with you! I had to do something!" She turned away from me with a scoff and a shake of her head. "That idiot probably thought he has a shot with you."

"He wasn't flirting with me!"

"He was touching you!"

"Oh, big deal, Jade! It was his character! That's what he was supposed to do!"

"Well then he could have just as well felt up Robbie," she huffed adamantly and made an attempt to cross her arms, only to flinch when her blistered hand brushed against her arm. I sighed. Whatever, why was I even still upset about it? It was out in the open now, might as well just accept it. While taking in a deep breath, I reached up to take off my police hat and placed it on my lap. Jade was back to staring out of the window, watching the night life of L.A. swooshing by. I settled for watching her for a short while before I shuffled closer, slipped my arm between her back and the backrest of her seat to wrap it around her waist and rested my chin on her shoulder.

"That sure would be a sight to see, huh?" I murmured quietly with a smile on my face. "Beck feeling up Robbie?"

I felt the tension pour out of her body, her tense shoulders relaxing as soon as she glanced at me. I smiled at her but her lips stayed pursed while blue eyes flicked down to my lips. "Wipe that lipstick off. You look ridiculous."

Sitting up straight, my eyebrows shot up. "Oh. Right." I rubbed the heel of my hand over my lips, staining my skin a faint red, then turned back to Jade. "All gone?"

A kiss, this one much calmer and gentler than the one we shared in front of our friends earlier this night, served as my answer and made my eyes fall shut as I enjoyed the softness of Jade's lips against my own, hopefully lipstick-free, ones. "All gone," she quietly confirmed when she pulled away and for the first time that day, there was a genuine smile pulling at her lips.

_**-OS&SD-**_

"I can't believe he thought we were his strippers."

Jade chuckled from beside me, the thick white bandage around her right hand seeming to glow in the darkness of my room. "Yeah. Did he really think his buddies would bring him the strippers to the emergency room? But what can you expect from someone who breaks his nose by opening a door? Stupid. That poor woman who has to marry him tomorrow. She's punished for life."

I let out a laugh and thought back to the drunk man with a bloody nose in the emergency room, surrounded by his posse from his bachelor party that had ended sooner than he would have thought, as he asked us if we were the strippers his friends booked for him. I barely managed to hold Jade back from smashing that poor dude's nose even more. "Yeah. But at least everything is good with your hand now."

"Are you kidding me?" Jade scoffed. "I feel like I have a freaking brick dangling from my hand with this stupid bandage."

"Aww, baby," I cooed, rolled to Jade's side of the bed and placed a soft kiss on her lips, "I'll be your nurse."

"Oooh, that's sexy."

Of course. I really should have known. "_Not_ like that."

She leaned up to kiss me again, then let her head plop back down on the pillow and sucked in air through her teeth. "You're so kinky."

"Shut up," I laughed, swatting her stomach. "I didn't mean it like that."

"Hmm, that's too bad. At least kiss me then."

She really didn't have to tell me twice.I kissed her, slowly and lazily, nibbling and capturing her bottom lip between both of mine. "You're still an amateur," Jade mumbled against my mouth, her hand running along my spine. Man, I loved when she did that. As soon as her words registered in my brain however, I ripped my lips away from hers, wide eyes staring down at her.

"What? Why's that? I was _great_ as Officer Pedesko!"

"You broke character."

"But just because you burned your hand! I was worried about you."

"Well, you should have sucked it up. Won the challenge. Made me proud."

"Well… Maybe I would have done that if _you_ didn't kiss me in front of our friends, _your ex-boyfriend_ and our teacher. Do you really think I wanted to stay there, having to explain everything alone to them? Nuh uh. No way."

"I don't know what you're stressing about. It was awesome!"

"It was embarrassing!"

"No, it was the best way we could have come out. Imagine when our kids ask how we came out to our friends and we'll tell them this story… It's going to be brilliant!"

"Our kids won't ask how we came out to our friends."

"How do you know? Maybe they will. And even if they won't I'm going to tell them anyway."

I let out a sigh and rolled onto my back. Jade _would_ force our children to sit down and listen to her tell that stupid story of how their mom's came out to their friends as Betty Sue Goldenheart and Officer Pedesko. On second thought though… that actually would be a great story. And-

…Wait.

"Wait a moment," I said, paused and turned onto my side. With furrowed eyebrows and a smile, I stared at her, curious. "You really think we are going to have kids someday?"

If I wouldn't have been so focused on her reaction I probably wouldn't even have noticed the way her eyes widened or how her fingers twitched on top of her stomach. "I… Well, I was… I don't know! Leave me alone!"

"Aww, Jade you're so sweet!"

"I'm not _sweet_, shut up!"

"You think about our future! That _is_ sweet!"

"I was just hypothetically speaking!"

"Still. You want us to be together forever. I love that."

"Okay, that's it. No kids for you."

It was when she turned her back to me that my grin fully took over my face.

Maybe it wasn't such a bad day after all.

* * *

_A/N: lovebug141: Haha, sure! *hugs you*  
_

_wikster: Wait, so does that mean 'I Feel Pretty/Unpretty' is **our** song now? :P Ooh, we could sing it to each other on our way to prom! I want to sing Dianna's part though._


	30. Thirty

_A/N: I know this is pretty short and nothing exciting really happens but I felt bad for not updating in forever so... at least something, right? I'm really sorry, seriously. I'll try to have the next chapter up quicker but I can't promise anything. I can tell you that it will deal with the "aftermath" of Jade and Tori's coming out and you'll see how Beck reacts._

* * *

I watched the girl who was sitting across from me awkwardly lifting the spoon to her mouth, drops of milk splashing back into the bowl and dripping all over the table top. A frown appeared on Jade's face. Using her left hand instead of her right one obviously turned out to be a little trickier than she would have imagined. The cereal found its way into her mouth eventually, the spoon sinking back into the bowl to get ready to scoop up some more of the soggy breakfast. I was caught then, Jade stopping to chew as soon as she saw me watching her with my lips curled into a smile. "What?" she grumpily asked after she swallowed, her eyebrows digging down. I said nothing, instead felt my smile widen, and shook my head. Jade sent me a glare. "Eat your breakfast."

"I'd rather watch you eat yours," I said with a grin and propped my chin up in my open palm. Annoyed eyes rolled in their sockets and dropped back down to the bowl of cereal as their owner petulantly murmured something, I'd guess insulting, under her breath. "Sorry, what was that?"

"Shut up or I'll ram the spoon up your nose," was grumbled out but even if I would have taken her threat seriously, which I really didn't, the way Jade shoved another spoonful into her mouth, milk running down her chin in a straight line, the laugh was impossible to keep in.

"Man, I hate you."

I clicked my tongue. "I know you don't."

The spoon clanked down into the bowl, Jade pushing out a long breath and leaning back in her chair. "I'm good at a lot of things. Using my left hand to eat is not one of them. Yet. That doesn't give you any reason to grin at me like a stupid maniac."

A small pout graced her pale face, althoug Jade would never admit to pouting. "Aw," I slid onto the chair standing closer to Jade, my hands gently sliding over her thigh, "Do you want me to feed you?"

"I'm not a baby."

"But you're injured."

"_You'll_ be injured if you won't shut up soon."

"Well, shut me up then."

I grinned brightly, exactly like the maniac she described me to be and shuffled forward on my chair, leaning in close to Jade. "I don't want to kiss you," she sulked but made no move whatsoever to get away from me, "I'm mad at you."

I chuckled, Jade huffing indignantly when I dared to nuzzle her nose with my own. "Why are you mad at me? I just want to help you so you won't starve."

"I don't need your help. I'd rather starve."

"That would make me very sad," I whispered, my eyes catching the slight flicker of Jade's lips.

"It would, wouldn't it?"

"Please shut me up now?"

She must have been really fed up by me at this point, because not even a second went by before she kissed me. I smiled in victory, sighed quietly and kissed her back.

"Oh my God, _please_."

Jade pulled away only an inch, exhaled against my mouth before getting back to kissing me. I felt her lips curl upwards as another one of Trina's annoyed groans sounded from behind us.

"Can't you go somewhere else?" There was a strong shove against my shoulder, causing me to squeak and break away from Jade immediately. With a frown on my face I noted that Trina was now standing right in front of us: arms crossed, lips pursed and her foot lazily tapping on the floor. Her mouth twisted as she let her arms fall and looked back and forth between me and Jade. "All this kissing is making me sick."

"You're just jealous 'cause no one wants to kiss _you_."

Trina snorted. "There are plenty of boys who would _kill_ to kiss me," she proclaimed while leaning down to be on eye-level with Jade, "They would _kill_!"

"Yeah, kill _you_."

Ignoring Jade's comment Trina straightened up, letting out an elongated sigh. "And I'm sure a lot of girls wouldn't mind a taste of those delicious lips either." She puckered her lips, made loud kissy noises, then let out another long sigh. "Too bad I don't swing that way. Well, not everyone can have a Trina."

Jade rolled her eyes while turning back to me. "Congratulations to all those lucky lesbians," Jade muttered into my neck, still loud enough for Trina to hear… and comment on it.

"Oh please," she scoffed, "If Tori wouldn't exist, I'm sure you'd make a move on _moi_."

Jade's head snapped up, almost knocking into mine. Her incredulous gaze found Trina standing by the stove. "In what world do you live?"

Seriously, in what world? Trina smiled, crossed her arms and tilted her head while looking at Jade. "You don't have to be embarrassed. It's totally normal to feel that way. I mean, how could you not? I'm talented,-"

"That's a blatant lie."

"-I'm popular-"

Jade shot me a look. "Does she really believe that?"

"-and I'm actually the prettiest girl in school. Sorry, sis. I'm the full package."

"I seriously can_not_ believe you."

"I know, Jade. I know. Sometimes even I can't believe how wonderful I am."

I lowered my head to hide my grin at the sheer unbelievable confidence my sister possessed. I mean, in a way it was kind of admirable. On the other hand… it was a_ little_ ridiculous. Just a little bit. "I'm going to ignore you now," Jade announced before making true of her words, focusing on her cereal instead of listening to Trina's incessant blabbering about herself.

Jade sighed and shook her head. "Have I ever told you how glad I am that you didn't turn out to be like your sister?"

"Nope, I don't think you have."

"Well, I'm really fucking-"

"Jade!"

"-glad you're not like your sister."

She smirked when I glared at her for cursing, which caused my lips to stretch into a grin too, even if I didn't want them to. I hated that she managed to make me smile so easily.

"-and if Hollywood Arts had a prom, well you know who would be prom queen."

"Wait, if?" I frowned, turned to look at Trina and watched her spread butter on a piece of toast. "Hollywood Arts doesn't have a prom?"

Trina didn't look up at me. "Nope."

"But why?"

"Because proms are stupid," Jade cut in, her spoon cluttering back into the bowl just as I turned to look at her. What was she talking about? Who doesn't like proms?!

"I love proms!"

"Well, that makes sense," she said with a sigh and completely gave up on her breakfast, leaning back in her chair, "'cause you're you and proms are stupid."

Ah, my girlfriend. Charming as ever. I'm _so_ lucky. Deciding it would just be best to ignore her comment, I slapped Jade's hand so she would stop inspecting her nails, which immediately made her snap her eyes up to me. She looked at me with an annoyed frown. "What?"

"We should organize one! It would be so much fun!"

"_No_, it would be lame," she argued and brushed my hand off of her lap, "No one wants a prom so don't even bother."

"How do you know that? Our school never had a prom so you guys have no idea how awesome it could be."

The only reaction I got out of Jade was an eye roll and a shake of her head but Trina, Trina was all up for it. "I'm totally in," she said around a mouthful of her toast and sat down at the table, "We should really do a prom. And with we I mean you."

A smile brightened up my face. "See," I proudly stated and looked at Jade, "Two against one."

"Two _Vegas_ against one."

"Make it three!"

All three of us turned our attention to the voice behind us and I watched, with great wonderment, as my dad came down the stairs with a smile I hadn't seen in quite a while on his face. He looked even happier as he made his way into the kitchen, his eyes actually being just as bright as his smile. "Good morning, ladies. What are you talking about?"

I smiled and shrugged my shoulders as I looked up at him. "Nothing important. Just our prom."

"The prom that doesn't exist."

I looked at Jade with a smirk. "The prom that will soon exist."

She glared at me, making me wonder why exactly she was so against a prom.

"I… don't have to understand that, do I?" Dad's confused voice brought me to turn back to the man standing by the coffeemaker, steaming cup in hand. Even when he was frowning, his eyebrows tugged together in confusion and forehead creased, did he look… different, somehow. Happier, maybe? Or maybe I was just looking too much into something that wasn't even there in the first place.

"No, dad," I smiled and leaned my forearms on the table, "How are you doing today?"

His face brightened up as he shrugged his shoulders. "I'm feeling good." That was all that he said… but I couldn't really tell if he was actually telling the truth or not. I slowly nodded before glancing at Trina, who had her eyes narrowed at our father.

"Really?" Trina carefully asked, her tone laced with apprehension when she next spoke. "You don't have to lie to us, dad. We understand if you don't feel well. You don't have to pretend."

"I'm not pretending," he said and made his way over to us, taking the last free seat at the table, "I just came to the conclusion that moping around doesn't do anyone any good. The situation isn't going to change just because I sit here in a bad mood."

We all stared at him for some time, watched him smile at us in a reassuring way and take a sip from his coffee. It was that easy? I mean… no one can just stop being sad. That's not how it works. But maybe the distance was doing him good. A couple of days ago my mom moved in with my aunt Sonia, just to give dad a little space, a little time to think. Maybe that was the best thing she could have done. Jade was the one to break the silence that had fallen over the table. "Well, I think that's awesome."

My dad looked at her with a smile. "Thank you, daughter's girlfriend. High five." I rolled my eyes as they high-fived each other, shook my head at the smug grins both Jade and my dad sent me. "Hey, but just to be clear, girls. Last night was an exception. No more overnight stays."

"But dad-"

"No, no," Trina interrupted me loudly, "I'm not allowed to have boys stay the night so you shouldn't be allowed to have Jade stay overnight just because she's a girl."

My dad nodded in agreement. "She has a point."

"Well… is Tori allowed to sleep over at my house?"

Trina and I snapped our eyes towards our dad. He narrowed his eyes and pressed his lips together as he intently considered Jade's question. Then he slowly nodded his head. "Sure. If your mom's okay with it and Tori comes home once in a while."

Yes! While I was grinning from ear to ear and Jade had a triumphant smirk on her lips, Trina let out a scandalized gasp. "Dad! That's not fair! You wouldn't let me stay at my boyfriend's house!"

Well… I guess she had a point… I looked at my dad, who had the most serious expression on his face. "You're right," he agreed with a nod, "That wouldn't be fair. Okay then Trina, I hereby allow you to spend tonight at your boyfriend's house."

Ha! "…You all suck."


	31. Thirty One

The atmosphere in the car was tense, our quiet breathing filling the silence that had been going on ever since Jade stopped the car two houses before her own. Our gazes were locked on the sleek car standing in front of Jade's house, unmoving and quietly. When we left my house to escape Trina's incessant babbling about how "it's so unfair that Tori's allowed to stay over at goth lady's place", we actually thought that Jade's home would give us the tranquility we craved. But I guess with a probably very upset ex-boyfriend sitting and waiting in his car for Jade to come home canceled out any peace and quiet. Yeah. Knowing Jade's temper it was probably going to get loud.

"Should we… turn back?"

I managed to rip my eyes away from Beck's car long enough to briefly glance at Jade sitting in the driver's seat. A muscle in her cheek flickered as she stared straight ahead and one part of me wished she would just say yes and we'd drive back to my house, no matter how annoying Trina was being at the moment. Yes, I knew… I knew we had to face our friends eventually and I knew we especially had to deal with Beck in a different way. But now, I just… I wasn't ready for it. What if Jade would realize – once again – that she still loved him? That… that maybe, in her eyes, he was the better choice. I couldn't go through this again. It hurt too much the last time and should history repeat itself… I wouldn't be able to handle it.

A loud breath pulled me out of my thoughts and I watched Jade's hand relax its hold on the steering wheel. She turned to look at me with troubled eyes and pursed lips, then shook her head at me. "We should just get it over with, right? At least then… the hardest part is over. Right?"

I bit my lip. Right. She was right. Come on, Tori. There was nothing to fear. Even if Beck would fall to his knees and beg for Jade to take him back, Jade wouldn't leave me. I just had to believe in that. Believe in her. So with a still slightly hesitant nod I answered her question and took in a deep breath when Jade started the car back up. Slowly, with a Ke$ha song playing on the radio, she drove the remaining distance to her house. As we passed Beck's car I risked a look inside and felt my heart almost stop when he looked up from his lap and his eyes met mine through the glass of both of the cars' windows. I breathed out a sigh, shaky and nervous, when Jade parked the car in her driveway and shut the engine off. I could hear a car door opening, then slamming shut outside.

Beck.

"Ready?"

Okay, maybe we should have driven back to my house after all. My heart was pounding way to strongly, there's no way I could-

"Tori!"

"What?" I snapped my wide eyes over to Jade, annoyance shaping her face.

"I asked if you were ready."

The words spewed out of my mouth before I could even think about what I was saying. "No, I think I'm close to a very severe heart attack."

All Jade did was roll her eyes. "Jesus, Tori. He won't kill you."

I wasn't so sure about that. In a matter of seconds Jade had unbuckled her seatbelt and was out of the car, waiting for me to get out too. Why was I so freaking nervous? I did nothing wrong. Neither did Jade. There was nothing Beck could accuse us of. I got out of the car and gently closed the door. My eyes immediately moved to Beck, who was leaning against the side of his car with his arms crossed and eyes fixed upon… Jade. His lips, usually pulled into a smile, were drawn downwards today. For just a moment his gaze traveled over to me, before he glanced at the floor and pushed himself off the car to make his way to his ex-girlfriend. I stayed where I was, glued to the passenger's side of Jade's car, while I watched Beck stroll across the green lawn. Beck's eyes dropped to Jade's hand as he came to a stop directly in front of her. I swallowed. "Does it still hurt?"

"No, everything is peachy, Beck."

"I was just asking," he grumbled disapprovingly and I couldn't help but think of him as more of a grumpy dad than an ex-boyfriend. I took my bottom lip between my teeth and slowly began to walk around the front of Jade's car until I only stood a couple of steps behind her. Beck's eyes flicked over to me once again, as well as Jade's gaze as she craned her head back to look at me. After shooting a hesitant smile at the boy in front of us, a smile that was not returned, I decided it was better to focus on Jade, who was still looking at me with the corners of her mouth tilted up slightly. Stepping closer to her, I brushed my hand against hers as we both turned our attention on Beck.

"So," Jade started, almost casually, as if this actually _wasn't_ one of the most nerve-wrecking things in the world. Or maybe I was simply overreacting. "What brings you here? Did you just want to ask how my hand is? If yes… now you know so you can go."

Instead of answering, he shot back a question of his own. "Can we talk alone?"

"No."

"Jade, maybe-"

Jade's head whirled in my direction as she interrupted me. "No," she firmly said, "This concerns you just as much as it does Beck and me. You're my girlfriend, you can stay."

I tensed up when her fingers intertwined with mine, my eyes snapping to Beck, seeing him clench his teeth as he looked down at our hands. In the back of my head I thought that it might be better for us to go inside, instead of doing this on Jade's front lawn, where everybody could hear and see us but… my mouth just didn't want to release any words. Beck cleared his throat, his hands seeming to disappear even deeper into his pockets.

"So for how long has… _this_ been going on?"

"This?"

"Yeah, well…" One hand appeared from the depths of his pant pocket to motion at our interlocked hands. "This."

"_This_, Beck, is called dating. And before you get your underpants in a twist, we've been together for only about a month now."

There was silence for a short moment, in which he just stared at Jade. Then, he chuckled humorlessly and shook his head. "Care to share when you were going to tell me about it?"

"I told you now, didn't I?"

"Oh come on, cut the crap, Jade."

"I don't even know why you're so pissed about this. You're the one who broke up with me, remember?"

Beck scoffed loudly. "No, I wasn't. You just went out of the door."

Really now? "You could have _opened _that door, but you chose not to! I gave you a choice, you decided to break up with me and now that I'm happy with someone else you're expecting me to…" I watched her pause, her eyebrows furrowing. "What do you even expect from me?"

Yeah, what _did_ he expect? It wasn't like Jade had to give account to him in any way. But the question was pretty much ignored by Beck. "Do you know how humiliating that was? The stunt you pulled yesterday? Robbie kept asking me why 'Betty' was suddenly smooching the police officer instead of me! You really could have been a little more considerate."

"Considerate? _Considerate_?" Oh boy, and here we go. I knew we should have gone inside. "When have _you _ever been considerate? Yeah, it was so _considerate_ of you to use every opportunity you could get to make me jealous! It was so _considerate_-"

"Hold up, okay? You _always _do that! Blaming other people for mistakes _you_ made-"

"Tori isn't a mistake! God, you're such a little princess! Just deal with it, dude!"

Jade's hand was squeezing mine so tightly that I felt the blood pounding underneath my skin and for a moment I wondered if it was possible for the veins in my hand to explode. But I didn't dare to even _try_ get my hand out of her tight grasp, instead I just settled for ignoring the uncomfortable feeling. It went on for a while, the pointless back and forth between Beck and Jade, and as their voices grew louder, I decided it was better if I stepped in.

"And you don't _own_ me, so please do everyone a favor and shut up!"

The second in which Beck got ready to fire back was the moment for me to break this madness off. "Okay, um… I really think we should go inside. The neighbors and-"

"This has been going on for far longer than a month, hasn't it?"

I paused, eyebrows shooting up at his question. His dark eyes bore into mine and I had to take a moment before I could answer. "What? N-no, but can't we talk about this ins-"

"Don't lie to me," he said, cutting me off. Seriously, what's with all the interruptions? Can't a girl just finish her sentence? I frowned as he stepped closer to me. "Ever since you turned up here, Jade has been not herself. She's been acting different; she's been different with me! So don't you dare tell me that this has only been going on for one freaking month!" His eyes narrowed as he snapped his eyes toward Jade again. "Did you cheat on me with her?"

Okay, now my hand really began to hurt. "Are you out of your mind?! Of course I didn't, you asshole!"

"So what, you just _magically_ became a lesbian?"

This wasn't happening. Tell me this wasn't happening right now. "That's _none_ of your business!"

"I believe it is!"

Kill me. "I believe it isn't!"

"Okay, _stop_!" It surprised me a little that both of them _actually _listened to me and stopped their bickering long enough to let me get a word out. I sighed harshly, wrenched my hand out of Jade's grasp and stepped forward so that I stood in between the fighting former couple. "Both of you, just… shut up, will you?" While Jade rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, Beck suddenly found the grass by his feet a lot more interesting than anything else. "Look, Beck… I know this must be a little weird for you-"

He snorted but didn't look up. "A little?"

"-but… it's the way it is now. You just have to learn to deal with it. We're not going to rub anything in your face but we're also not going to break up just because you might have a problem with us being together. I think... the least you could do is… accept us."

There was silence for a moment before he looked up from the ground, his eyes meeting mine. "Getting with the girl your friend was dating not too long ago? That's really classy," he said, coldly. I almost cringed at the quiet venom lacing his tone. "You're a _great_ friend, Tori."

Okay, _he_ was the one to make a move on me even though Jade and I were- well okay, he didn't _know_ that we had been together then but… he knew we were friends! Granted, some might say we weren't really getting along, considering Jade's behavior towards me back when I first started at Hollywood Arts but it- Wait, where was he going?!

I watched the back of his head as he walked across the grassy ground and considered demanding that he'd stay so we could talk about this, but when he got into his car I knew that it wouldn't make a difference right now. So I stood there, next to Jade, and simply listened to the engine of Beck's car coming to life, before he drove away.

"Well," Jade sighed, breaking the minute of silence we spent just standing there without moving or uttering a sound, "That went better than expected."

My eyebrows furrowed at her words. When I turned to look at her I saw her still looking straight ahead, an almost nonchalant expression on her face. "You actually think that went well? Seriously?"

She shot me an irritated look. "_No_, I said it went better than I had _expected_. My expectations were actually pretty low."

"Oh. Awesome. What _did_ you expect? That he'd punch both of us in the face?"

"Nope. I expected him to slap you and kick your shin. Glad he didn't do it."

Sometimes I really wonder why I'm so in love with this girl. After a second or two of me staring at her with an expression of utter incredulity, Jade sent me a smirk and wrapped an arm around my waist to pull me into her. "Kidding!"

"Ha ha. You're so funny," I mumbled and pouted even when Jade's lips pressed against my cheek.

"_If_ he would have done that," she murmured into my ear, "I would have slapped him back and kicked him where it really hurts… and then I would have buried him in the desert as punishment for hurting you."

Right. _That's_ why I loved her.

* * *

_A/N: wikster: Well. Isn't _someone_ being sassy. How's your Christmas morning going, huh?_


	32. Thirty Two

"Do you think he was right?"

Jade sat down next to me on the garden swing standing in Jade's backyard and hoisted her legs up to rest them in my lap. She raised her eyebrows questioningly, held her cup of coffee almost protectively to her chest. "Beck?" I nodded. "With what?"

"Well, he… he was kinda right with what he said, wasn't he?"

"What are you talking about?"

"He's my friend, Jade. Shouldn't I have at least talked to him before I… before we…"

"Please, Tori. It's not like I broke his heart or made his life meaningless by not getting back together with him. He's just trying to make both of us feel bad, _especially_ you." She shrugged. "He's being the actor he always is. It's a role he plays. Good practice."

Was that really all it was? He did seem pretty upset. I couldn't imagine that he just pretended to be hurt. Who would even do that? No, I really didn't think he was just playing a role. Maybe it was easier for Jade to believe that but... it couldn't be true. "I just feel… bad. I don't think he was just pretending. I actually think he was genuinely hurt." Jade clicked her tongue dismissively. "And… I can't help but think that… Beck was right. That I'm really not a good friend."

Jade stared at me, then sighed and looked away as she took a sip from her coffee. It was silent for a while, my heart sinking more and more with every quiet second that ticked by. Then, Jade's voice reached my ears. "You probably won't believe me now because you're stupid like that," she murmured, still looking out into the garden, "but I'm going to tell you anyway. You're the nicest, most generous, most supportive and sickeningly sweetest girl I know. And that makes you the best friend anyone could ever ask for."

I hesitated. "Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure."

"Well, you could be just saying that because we're dating and you don't wanna hurt me-"

"If you can count on one thing," she started, pausing briefly while her eyes flicked back and forth between mine, "it's that I'm always going to be honest with you."

I smiled into my lap, my fingers gently running over the soft fabric of Jade's pants. "I know that."

Only when I looked up did Jade nod and look away, satisfied with the answer I gave her. We both grew quiet then, just sitting with each other on the garden swing I lightly pushed back and forth with the tips of my shoes. It was after a couple of very quiet minutes, in which I admired all those colorful flowers Jade's mom had planted in her garden, that a soft demand reached my ears. "Tell me you love me." Eyebrows slightly raising, I tore my gaze away from the flower bed not too far away from us and instead looked at the girl next to me. Her head was tilted, so that her cheek gently rested against the backrest of the swing. I met her eyes, so soft and calming, and smiled before I quietly told her what she craved to hear.

"I love you."

The smile shaping her lips was soft but unfortunately, it didn't stay for long, thanks to my stupid phone. I picked it up from beside me and frowned as I looked at the caller I.D.. "It's Cat again. Maybe I should-"

Jade reached over and plucked the phone out of my hand. "No," she said while pushing 'ignore', "Let's just ignore everyone. Just for this weekend. It'll be just us and Monday… Monday we can deal with everyone else."

I thought about it for a moment before I smiled and took my phone out of Jade's hand. "Deal," I said and put it on silent, placing it on the small table in front of us.

"Perfect," she murmured after she handed me her cup to place on the table as well. As soon as I leaned back she took a hold of my shirt and pulled me on top of her.

Jade was right. Everyone else could wait.

_**-OS&SD-**_

When we got to school on Monday, we knew that it probably wouldn't exactly be easy to face Robbie, Cat and Beck but we wouldn't have thought that those three… wouldn't be our only problem. As soon as Jade and I walked through the doors of Hollywood Arts, the school seemed to quieten down immensely. Some people completely stopped doing what they were doing and just stared at us, while some just pretended they were busy with something so they could 'subtly' glance over at us. I hesitantly looked at Jade, who was busy glaring at a group of dancers by the stairs, and couldn't keep myself from asking, "Do you think they know?" Within two seconds Jade's piercing glare was directed at me. I slowly nodded. "Stupid question."

"You think?"

Jade rolled her eyes, sighed and moved away from me without another word. Well, but how would they know? Frowning, I tried to ignore the whispers and glances and joined Jade at her locker. "But how did they find out?" I almost whispered. "Do you think someone told?"

"I don't know, Tori. How should I kn-" She froze, eyes staring into her locker. "PearMaps…"

PearMaps? "What? What does that have to do with anything?"

I didn't get an answer, at least not one I could understand. While Jade kept mumbling, I'd strongly guess curses, under her breath and dug through her bag, I risked a look around us. There were two girls standing opposite from us, giggling into their hands while shooting looks at us ever so often. Some guy I had never seen before was leaning against the locker next to them, winking at me when he caught me looking at him. Did anyone ever hear the of the word 'subtle' in this school? At least… try to be subtle if you think we're so interesting. Man. This was making me uncomfortable. "I knew it."

I turned back to Jade. "You knew what?"

"There you have your answer," she said and pushed her phone into my hands. My brows scrunched together as my eyes fell on a familiar page on The Slap.

_**CAT VALENTINE'S PAGE**_

_**NEWEST UPDATE:**_

_** JadeWest ToriVega**_ Where are you guys? Are you two dating? Are you making out right now?

_**Mood: Confused**_

**Robbie **Uh Cat? I don't think you were supposed to write that on The Slap.

**Cat **But Jade and Tori won't accept my calls! And I'm too scared to go visit them. :( I don't want Jade to get mad at me.

**Rex **Hold up, so this wasn't one of Rob's crazy dreams? Tori and Jade actually smooched?

**Cat **Yes! Isn't that cute?

**Rex **No, it's HOT!

**Robbie **Rex!

**Sinjin **The puppet's right though. It's extremely hot.

**Rex **I'm not a puppet!

**Andre **What's going on here? Lil' Red, you can't post stuff like that on The Slap. Delete it.

**Cat **I just wanted to know what's going on between Jade and Tori!

**Robbie **But you basically just outed them to the whole school!

**Cat **What does outed mean?

**Andre **Cat, just delete this post.

**Cat **I don't know how!

**Andre **Just click the little button that says 'delete'!

**Cat **Kay Kay!

**Robbie **…It's been an hour. I thought you wanted to delete the post.

**Andre **Jade is going to kill her.

_**366 people like this**_

"Oh… Cat." So _that's_ what had been going on on The Slap over the weekend. No wonder our phones kept beeping with notifications. "It's the PearMaps thing all over again. That little person has such a big mouth!"

"Well… at least it's out now," I said, handing Jade her phone back, "It would have been better if we would have been the ones to let everyone know but what's done is done."

"Yeah… I guess you're right." A deep breath rushed out of her mouth as she looked at something over my shoulder. "Ugh. Prince Charming at twelve o'clock."

I frowned and slowly turned around but a smile immediately appeared on my face when I saw who she was talking about. Backpack slung over his shoulder, hands in his pockets and smile in place, Noel came to a stop in front of us. "Hey."

"Oh, hey Noel."

We both looked at Jade and waited for some sort of greeting but the girl stayed stubborn and pretended to organize something in her locker. Typical. Noel brushed it off and instead focused back on me. "So you made it official."

Jade scoffed. "No, _Cat_ made it official."

"Same difference, right? What's out is out."

"Yeah," Jade said, closing her locker behind me. I looked over at her as she came up beside me and wasn't surprised to find a sickly sweet smile on her face. Even though I had reassured her _multiple_ times that Noel and I would never be anything more than friends, Jade made it her task to be as bitchy to him as possible. "What's out is out. Which means that you have to look for a new fake girlfriend you can parade around school."

"Jade, stop." But Noel only chuckled.

"I don't need a fake girlfriend."

"Oh, cocky much? I get it, someone like you can get any girl he wants without anything being fake."

"I didn't say that."

"But you meant it."

Man, she could be so difficult sometimes. Can't take her anywhere. "Jade, it's enough now."

"Look Jade, I won't fight with you, no matter how much you provoke me."

"Oh, come on! Stop playing Mr. Charming in front of Tori. You don't like me, let it out!"

"When did I ever say I don't like you?"

Jade paused. Ha! He got you! "You… Does that matter?"

Noel and I answered in unison. "Yes."

The glare she sent me only made me smirk at her. "Fine," she grumbled, "You never said you don't like me."

"You know," I started, hooking my arm through Jade's, "it would be a lot easier if you'd just try to be a little nicer to Noel. He's my friend and now that we're dating you're probably going to see a lot more of him."

The prospect of spending time with Noel made Jade's eyes widen. I had to bite my lip to keep myself from laughing. "I could start with saying something nice," Noel offered and I nodded at him. He smiled and looked at Jade. "You look _very_ pretty today, Jade."

"Oh thanks," she spat sarcastically, "Does that mean I usually look disgusting but today I got lucky?"

Oh, Jade. My head turned back towards Noel who, surprisingly, was still smiling. "No Jade. It means that even on your worst days you manage to look amazing. You might not live up to your usual goddess-like gorgeous appearance today, given that you're having some stressful hours ahead of you," he paused, glanced at me to send me a smirk, then focused back on my baffled girlfriend, "but you still look utterly beautiful."

_Wow_. Speechless and with the biggest smile on my face, I turned to Jade and – don't take my word for it – I think I actually saw a faint blush on her cheeks before she turned her head to the right and pretended to look at something far away. "You're disgusting, Davis," she mumbled quietly, just as the bell rang.

Noel frowned. "Well, you need a little bit of practice at being nice but I think you're on a good way." His smile reappeared as he began to back away from us. "See you later, ladies."

Only when he was completely gone, did Jade say something. "He's just as weird as you are. No wonder you get along so well."

I let out a quiet laugh as we made our way to class, with me still holding on to Jade's arm and Jade glowering at everyone who looked at us for too long. "You know, he meant that," I said, referring to Noel complimenting her on her looks, "That you look great."

"Whatever."

"And he's right. You_ do_ look utterly beautiful."

Daily mission to make Jade smile: accomplished.

_**-OS&SD-**_

The day actually didn't turn out to be as horrible as I had originally thought. The murmurs that broke out whenever I would enter a room were pretty annoying of course, and the way everyone, even some teachers would glance at me in curiosity was really hard to ignore but other than that… everything went pretty smoothly. Well… not everything. Beck was the only one who _didn't _talk about us or looked in our direction when we would be in the same room as him. Understandable? I guess. But I think he should give us a chance to really talk to him, without it turning into a shouting match or with him just taking off.

Cat and Robbie… were scared of Jade, first and foremost. It was lunch when we decided to talk to them and we found them sitting in the Asphalt Café on either side of Andre. When they saw us, Cat immediately latched onto Andre's arm and I think Robbie had a hard time resisting doing the same. "Here's the deal," Jade had said, "We're a couple. Yay. Don't ask any questions or I will kill you two morons." It was… pretty effective. Even Rex didn't make any inappropriate comments, which… I'm sure won't last very long.

So. Beck was the only problem we still had to take care of. And just my luck, as I was sitting against the wall waiting for Jade's last class of the day, scriptwriting, to end, Beck came walking down the empty hallway. He didn't see me at first, his attention on his phone. But when I got up from the floor, his eyes met mine and his feet immediately began to carry him faster.

"Beck, please wait."

"I really don't want to talk to you, Tori."

"Why not? It's better than ignoring me."

The tense air that was poisoning the entire school building suddenly got even thicker as Beck turned around and stared me dead in the eye. While I was used to be on the receiving end of Jade's glares, which… could actually make you pee your pants depending on the situation you find yourself in, Beck's empty stares were definitely able to keep up, I noted with a hint of surprise. It was like he was judging every single part of me, inside and out.

"I don't want anything to do with you."

He tried to leave again, but I was having none of it. "I can understand that you're a little upset but you're acting like I killed your guinea pig." He threw a bewildered glance over his shoulder but continued to swiftly walk down the hallway, destination: his car. I had to do something before he could flee. "Just let me say one thing," I pleaded, just as we reached the doors that would lead him to the parking lot. "One thing and I'll let you go." The door was already halfway pushed open when he came to a slow stop and halted his actions. With a sigh, he let his hand fall to his side and turned around.

"Fine."

"You were right. It has been going on for far longer than a month." Beck's eyebrows furrowed angrily but I quickly continued before a single word could leave his parted lips. "I think I've been in love with Jade since I was seven years old."

It took a moment for Beck to actually comprehend what I had said; the expression he wore, narrowed eyes, open mouth and his head tilted, would have probably made me laugh if we were in a different situation. "What… do you mean? That doesn't make any sense."

I smiled gently and lifted my left shoulder in a shrug. "I can explain it to you. If you let me."

In the few moments in which he was quiet I feared that this would just be a déjà vu of Saturday and he would run away again. Only when he let out a defeated sigh and I heard him say the next words, did a relieved smile found its way on my face.

"Fine then. Explain."

* * *

_A/N: wikster: A dumpster... How classy. And people wonder why I choose other people over you.  
_


End file.
